NATO Chief Urges Serbia, Kosovo To Ease Tensions After Failed Talks

The head of NATO urged Serbia and Kosovo to ease tensions and revive their efforts to normalize relations after talks aimed at mending ties collapsed amid mutual recriminations this week. “Not more rhetoric but we need dialogue, we need to reduce tensions to avoid incidents…and move forward normalizing the process between Pristina and Belgrade,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa in Pristina on February 3. Kosovo and Serbia, after an attempt at negotiations abruptly broke up without result late on February 1, have engaged in an escalating war of words, accusing each other of stoking ethnic tensions.

Tensions flare as Serb nationalist train halts at border

A railroad worker stands by the first train decorated with letters that read “Kosovo is Serbian” written in twenty languages departing from the Belgrade to Mitrovica, Kosovo at Belgrade’s railway station, Serbia, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Serbia has launched a railway link to Serb-dominated northern Kosovo despite protests from authorities in Pristina who described the move as a provocation and an aggressive violation of Kosovo’s sovereignty.