Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina skyrocketed again on Wednesday after Serbia arrested three Kosovar policemen, with Kosovar authorities calling the incident a kidnapping and banning Serb vehicles from crossing the border.
This new fit of fever between the two former enemies comes after weeks of tension, during which thirty soldiers of Kfor, the force led by NATO in Kosovo, were injured in May during clashes with Serb demonstrators.
Serbia, supported by its Russian and Chinese allies, has never recognized the independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former province, a decade after a deadly war between Serbian forces and Albanian independence rebels.
Serbia said it arrested three Kosovar police officers in military uniform, carrying automatic weapons, GPS, maps and other equipment.
“The terrorist gang was arrested today at 12:38 p.m. in the territory of Central Serbia, in the area of the village of Gnjilica, in the municipality of Raska,” Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian Kosovo office, told reporters. .
Gnjilica is about six kilometers from a border crossing with Kosovo.
In a video released by Serbian police, several masked men are seen leading a group of handcuffed men away.
But the Kosovar government said the police were “kidnapped” in Kosovar territory.
The officers belong to a unit in charge of border surveillance and disappeared after reporting an incursion by masked and armed men near the municipality of Leposavic in northern Kosovo, according to the same source.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Belgrade of kidnapping the officers, saying it was likely “an act of revenge” after the alleged leader of a Serbian paramilitary group was arrested on Tuesday.
“The entry of Serbian forces into the territory of Kosovo is an act of aggression and aims at escalation and destabilization,” he said on Facebook. “We demand the immediate release of the kidnapped police officers.”
Pristina immediately banned vehicles with Serbian license plates from entering Kosovo, according to government spokesman Perparim Kryeziu.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused Albin Kurti “of wanting to provoke a war”, promising that Serbia would “do everything” to avoid a conflict.
“We are at a turning point, are we going to continue to have peace or not?” he asked. “I’m afraid that we have crossed the Rubicon and it will be very difficult to get back to normal,” he told Serbian television.
Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have soared since the enthronement in May of Albanian mayors in four towns in northern Kosovo with a Serb majority.
These city councilors had been elected in April during municipal elections boycotted by the Kosovo Serbs.
France, Germany and the United States called on both parties to de-escalate while Washington, Pristina’s closest ally, denounced the decision of the Kosovar government to induct mayors.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell asked Albin Kurti on Wednesday evening to take “measures for de-escalation”.
“Otherwise there will be negative political consequences,” he warned.
Since the Kosovo war and the declaration of independence, relations between Belgrade and Pristina have gone from crisis to crisis.
About 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo, a third of them in the north of the territory, which has a total population of 1.8 million, the vast majority of Kosovar Albanians.
Many Serbs regard Kosovo as their national and religious cradle. Kosovo’s Serb minority remains largely loyal to Belgrade, refusing to recognize Pristina’s sovereignty. The Kosovo Serbs are accused by some of being exploited by Belgrade.
mbs-ih-ds-ev/fjb
06/14/2023 23:47:29 – Belgrade (AFP) – © 2023 AFP