Article Author:
Associated Press
Dusan Stojanovic
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Wartime rivals Serbia and Kosovo held high-level crisis talks on Thursday. Escalating tensions in the Balkans where Russia seeks to further increase its influence in the war in Ukraine.
There is little hope that the rare face-to-face meeting between Serbian President Aleksandr Vučić and Kosovo's Prime Minister Alvin Kurti in Brussels will lead to much progress.
But Western officials overseeing the decades-long stalemate between the two neighbors have at least ruled out an increase in warmongering rhetoric by both sides.
"All outstanding issues should be addressed and addressed through EU-facilitated dialogue," said Nabila, the European Commission's spokesman for foreign affairs. Masrari told reporters. "Both parties must at this point end hostilities," she said, "acting responsibly."
Recent tensions between Serbia and the former state of Kosovo led late last month when the Kurti government declared that Serbian identity cards and vehicle license plates were no longer valid on Kosovar territory. soared when Under apparent pressure from the West, Kurti postponed the start of implementation of the measures by a month to 1 September.
Minority Serbs, mainly living in northern Kosovo, reacted with anger, erecting roadblocks, sounding air raid sirens, firing guns into the air, and killing Kosovo. in the direction of a police officer. No one was injured.
The government of Kosovo has taken neighboring Serbia to destabilize the country, which declared independence in 2008 after NATO intervention that thwarted Serbia's bloody crackdown on Albanian separatists in 1999. accused of inciting the riot.
Kosovo's Interior Minister Sheral Zubekla accused Serbia and its ally Russia of causing and supporting the riots.
"Belgrade's direct involvement can be seen not only in rhetoric, but also in the direct involvement of Serbian groups, including the security services," he told his Associated Press. "It was inflated and imported from its so-called big brothers Serbia and Russia to incite violence in Kosovo."
Serbian officials Accusing the authorities of planning to expel the remaining Serbs from Kosovo, he said Belgrade would use "all available means" to stop the "pogroms".
As the EU tried to calm down, Vucic visited the Serbian military headquarters in Belgrade and appeared to vaguely warn that all options were on the table, including military action. is home to about 3,800 NATO-led peacekeepers, and a military intervention by Serbs or Russians would arguably ignite a wider conflict.
Russian officials and their propaganda, very active in Serbia, used pro-Serbian narratives, claiming that Kosovo's Serb minority was oppressed and subjected to violence by the Albanian majority. - the same story Russia used as an excuse to invade Ukraine.
There is concern in the West that Russia will use Serbia to destabilize the Balkans and divert at least some attention from the war in Ukraine. Raising the money, Russian officials recently began advocating the establishment of a military base in Serbia, which is almost entirely surrounded by NATO members. Russia's introduction of the idea of a military base into the public space of a country surrounded by member states has had an internal effect even in Serbia, where Russian influence is undoubtedly strong," said former Serbian diplomat Srecko Djukic. told Serbian media.
Serbia, Russia and China do not recognize Kosovo's independence, which the United States and most other Western countries support.