Kosovo and Serbia: international calls for “moderation” as tensions escalate

Serbs have blocked roads in northern Kosovo for weeks, in protests that began over a dispute over car numbering.

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the time has come for NATO-led peacekeepers to remove those barriers.

The NATO mission in Kosovo said it supports dialogue between all sides to defuse tension.

Serbia put its army on alert on Monday.

The Kremlin has denied the charge of inciting Serbs to destabilize Kosovo, saying what Serbia is doing is simply defending the rights of Serbs.

A former policeman of Serbian origin, whose arrest sparked a protest from the Serb minority in Kosovo, will be released under house arrest, at the request of the prosecutor, a spokesman for the Pristina District Court told Reuters.

Dejan Pantek was arrested on December 10 for assaulting an on-duty policeman, and there have been clashes between the Serbs and the police ever since.

The court’s decision angered Kosovo officials, including Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Justice Minister Albolina Hajiu.

“I don’t know, and I don’t understand, how a man accused of such a serious crime related to terrorism could be placed under house arrest,” Hagio said.

“I want to know who is the prosecutor who made this request, and who is the judge who accepted it, in the trial proceedings,” said Curti.

Pantik was among many Serbs who quit their posts in the police and other institutions after Pristina said it would implement a law requiring Serbs to give up vehicle registration plates issued before the 1998-1999 war that led to the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Two crossing points between Kosovo and Serbia were closed on December 10, while the third, the largest one, through which freight trucks enter, was closed on Wednesday. This halted the return of Kosovo residents working in other European countries to their country for holidays.

Kosovo’s Interior Minister Jalal Svikla said Serbia wants to destabilize his country, while Serbia claims it stands up for the rights of the Serb minority there.

The 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognize the government in Pristina, nor Kosovo as an independent state. They are supported in their position by many Serbs in Serbia, as well as their own government.