According to the Serbian president, relations between the two countries have tightened to a “boiling point”. The Prime Minister of Kosovo stated that the coming hours, days and weeks will be challenging.
Gunmen opened fire on police in the northern part of Kosovo on Sunday, and the Serb population in the area blocked roads with trucks, among other things. No one was injured in the incident, but Kosovo police closed two border crossings on the border with Serbia as a result. In Kosovo’s Mitrovica, air raid sirens sounded for hours, and Italian peacekeeping forces had a visible presence in the city and its surrounding areas.
Relations between Kosovo and Serbia have reached a “boiling point”, said the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić on Sunday. According to him, the situation has never been so complicated for Serbia and the Serbs living in Kosovo. Vučić also warned that Serbia will win if the Serbs are attacked. Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurt in turn, accused Vučić of fomenting unrest, and said the coming hours, days and weeks would be “challenging and problematic”.
The latest rift in the relations between the two countries has been caused by Kosovo’s new entry requirements, according to which identity documents arriving from Serbia must be changed to temporary identity documents for the duration of their stay in Kosovo, and car license plates must be changed to Kosovar ones within two months of entering the country. According to Kurt, it is a countermeasure, because Serbia already has similar regulations in place.
Kosovo became independent from Serbia in 2008, but the population in the northern part of the country is mainly of Serbian background. Serbia has still not recognized the independence of Kosovo.