In response to the arrest of three Kosovan police officers, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Kurti announced that he would close border crossings to Serbian vehicles. According to Kurti, Serbia kidnapped the officials. The Serbian government denies this.
Kosovo has closed its borders to Serbian vehicles in a dispute with Serbia over the crackdown on three police officers. Prime Minister Albin Kurti again accused the Serbian neighbor of kidnapping the officials.
Therefore, controls at the border are now being increased and traffic from Serbia is being restricted. It was initially unclear whether freight traffic would also be affected. According to the order of the Kosovar customs administration, the border closure also applies to Serbian goods.
According to the AP news agency, Prime Minister Kurti said during a press conference that the decision was not about “commercial steps”. This could indicate that the free movement of goods across the border will continue.
different depictions of arrests
The politician criticized the fact that the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR had not issued an official statement on how to deal with the three border police officers. Kurti reiterated that the three officials had been kidnapped on Kosovo territory. Serbian special units from the police and army have penetrated deep into the territory of Kosovo. The Serbian authorities deny this.
“What surprises us is the silence and tolerance of international bodies towards Serbia’s actions,” said Kurti. “Serbia is constantly looking for pretexts to escalate and destabilize and when there is no pretext it is ready and able to create one.”
Serbia speaks of a planned terrorist attack
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, on the other hand, reiterated that the Kosovar police officers were on Serbian territory at the time of their arrest. They were armed with submachine guns.
Serbia acted like any reputable country would, Vucic said, describing Kosovo as a “quasi-state”. The men had planned a terrorist attack.
Tensions have been building for months
Tensions have been building between the two neighboring countries for months. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. Serbia does not recognize this and demands the return of its former province. In the north of Kosovo almost exclusively ethnic Serbs live, in the rest of the country almost only ethnic Albanians.
At the end of May, violent Serbs attacked soldiers from the NATO-led security force KFOR in northern Kosovo. The clashes left dozens injured on both sides. The trigger for the conflict was the appointment of mayors of Albanian origin, who emerged from elections that the local Serbs had boycotted at the behest of the government in Belgrade.