Category Archives: Kosovo

Standoff between Kosovo police and Serbian gunmen ends with four killed

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Sunday’s attack marks serious escalation in Kosovo after months of mounting tensions with Serbia

A standoff between gunmen and Kosovo authorities at a monastery near the border with Serbia ended after four people were killed, authorities in Pristina said, after a police operation to regain control of the area.

“We put this territory under control. It was done after several consecutive battles,” Xhelal Svecla, Kosovo’s minister of internal affairs, told reporters after the standoff was over.

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Kosovan PM Albin Kurti says talks with Serbia have reached dead end

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Kurti claims EU special envoy to talks has lost neutrality and there is ‘no moving further with this method’

EU-brokered talks between Kosovo and Serbia have become so one-sided that they have reached a dead end, Kosovo’s prime minister has said.

More than a decade of European-led mediation efforts, most recently in Moldova and Brussels, have failed to normalise relations between the two countries, and Belgrade still refuses to recognise Kosovo’s independence, declared in 2008 under a UN-sponsored plan.

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Turkey to send commandos to Kosovo in response to Nato peacekeeping call

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EU has called on leaders in Kosovo and Serbia to immediately reduce tensions and halt ‘divisive rhetoric’

Turkey has announced it will be sending commandos to Kosovo on Sunday in response to a Nato request to join the peacekeeping operation after unrest in the north of the country.

In a statement on Saturday, the Turkish defence ministry called for restraint and constructive dialogue to resolve a crisis it said could harm regional security and stability.

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Novak Djokovic defiant despite warning not to repeat political message

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  • French sports minister insists on ‘neutrality’ at Roland Garros
  • ‘I would say it again,’ says Serbian world No 3

Novak Djokovic has insisted that he would not hesitate to opine on Kosovo and the clashes between Kosovo authorities and ethnic Serbs again, even as the backlash to his comments continues to grow.

“I don’t mind saying that. I mean, I would say it again,” Djokovic said. “But I don’t need to because you have my quotes if you want to reflect on that. Of course I’m aware that a lot of people would disagree, but it is what it is. It’s something that I stand for.”

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Kosovo: ‘fascist mobs’ guided by Serbia causing violence, says country’s PM

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More than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers were injured in clashes on Monday after ethnic Albanian mayors took office

Kosovo’s prime minister has blamed violence in the north of the country on “fascist mobs” controlled by the government of neighbouring Serbia, and said he had rejected a US request to relocate recently installed mayors out of their official offices.

More than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers were injured in clashes on Monday, prompting the alliance to announce it would send another 700 troops to the country. Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vučić put his country’s army on high combat alert.

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Nato to send 700 more troops to Kosovo to try to quell violence

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Nato chief announces further measures as situation in Serb-majority north remains ‘fragile’

Nato has said it will send 700 extra troops to try to curb the violence in Kosovo a day after 30 alliance-led peacekeeping soldiers and more than 50 ethnic Serbian protesters were injured in clashes.

On Monday, Nato peacekeepers in riot gear had secured a town hall in the town of Zvecan as the situation remained tense.

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Kosovo clashes: Nato commander criticises ‘unacceptable’ attacks on troops

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Dozens of Italian and Hungarian soldiers from Kfor mission and more than 50 Serbs were injured in clashes over ethnic Albanian mayors taking office

More than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo have been injured in clashes with Serb protesters, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.

The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after elections that the Serbs boycotted – a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday.

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Kosovo PM says Russia is inflaming Serbia tensions as Ukraine war falters

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Albin Kurti warns rising tensions only benefit Putin as ethnic Serbs set up road blocks in north of country

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, has warned of Russia inflaming tensions between his country and Serbia due to the war in Ukraine faltering, as Belgrade took its first step in deploying troops to the region.

Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo, where they are in the majority, have had barricades set up for more than a week, preventing the free movement of the Kosovan authorities, despite US and EU calls for the illegal road blocks to be dismantled.

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Kosovo Serbs block road to main border crossings in volatile north

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Trucks and agricultural machines used as roadblocks, heightening recent tensions in the region

Hundreds of ethnic Serbs erected barricades on a road in northern Kosovo on Saturday, blocking the traffic over the two main border crossings towards Serbia, police said.

Trucks, ambulance cars and agricultural machines were used as roadblocks, heightening recent tensions which included explosions, shootings and an armed attack on a police patrol which saw one ethnic Albanian police officer wounded.

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Serbia and Kosovo reach free movement agreement

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Serbia to abolish entry-exit document for Kosovo ID holders and Kosovo agrees not to introduce them

Serbia and Kosovo have agreed on an arrangement for free movement between their countries, the EU’s foreign policy chief announced Saturday.

Serbia agreed to abolish its entry-exit document for Kosovo ID holders, and Kosovo agreed to not introduce them for Serbian ID holders, said Josep Borrell.

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Kosovo stops import of electricity and begins energy rationing

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Power blackouts after wholesale prices soar as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Soaring international energy prices have brought power blackouts to Europe as Kosovo said it could no longer afford to import electricity, adding to fears that tensions with Russia will plunge the continent into crisis this winter.

Consumers in the Balkan state have been told they will be allowed six hours of power at a time, punctuated by two-hour breaks, according to a spokesperson for its energy distribution company, KEDS.

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Kosovo delays plan for volatile north as tensions rise near Serbian border

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Protesters set up roadblocks and shots were fired after Pristina brought in rules that would mean Serbs in Kosovo must use Kosovo licence plates

The Kosovo government postponed implementation of a decision that would oblige Serbs in the north of the country to apply for car license plates issued by Pristina institutions after tensions rose between police and local communities.

Late on Sunday protesters parked trucks filled with gravel and other heavy machinery on roads leading to two border crossings, Jarinje and Bernjak, in a territory where Serbs form a majority. Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings.

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Russia may pressure Serbia to undermine western Balkans, leaders warn

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Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina urge western leaders to ‘engage more actively and strongly’ in the region

Russia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian.

They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster defences against Russian interference.

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Tensions rise at Kosovo border as number plate row escalates

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Behind a seemingly minor dispute, the long unresolved enmity with Serbia simmers

At an abandoned petrol station, half a mile from Kosovo’s Jarinje border checkpoint with Serbia, a giant Serbian flag had been laid out on the roof. In the former forecourt, a group of young people sat on upturned beer crates, sharing bottles of water and homemade rakija in small plastic cups. “This is our squad, our special forces,” one joked, as four tall, muscular men walked over to join them.

The mountain road next to them, flanked on either side by groups of protesters around tents and smouldering campfires, had been well and truly blocked by the men’s heavily laden trucks.

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The disappeared in Mexico, Afghan female footballers and a giant puppet: human rights this fortnight in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms from Thailand to Texas

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EU removes six countries including US from Covid safe travel list

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Travellers from Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia also affected by move

The EU has removed six countries, including the US, from a Covid “white list” of places whose tourists should be permitted entry without restrictions such as mandatory quarantine.

A majority of EU countries had reopened their borders to Americans in June, in the hope of salvaging the summer tourism season although most required a negative test ahead of travel. The move was not, however, reciprocated by the US.

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At least 10 dead and 44 injured in bus crash in Croatia after driver lost control

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Driver reportedly fell asleep on journey between Frankfurt and Pristina, the capital of Kosovo

At least 10 people have died after a bus swerved off a highway and crashed in Croatia, police have said.

The incident, believed to have happened when the driver fell asleep early on Sunday, has left at least 44 others injured, some seriously.

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Kosovo’s president resigns to face war crimes charges in The Hague

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Hashim Thaçi was guerrilla leader during 1990s war for independence from Serbia

Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaçi, a guerrilla leader during the country’s war for independence from Serbia in the 1990s, has resigned to face charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity at a special court based in The Hague.

Thaçi announced his resignation at a news conference in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital. He said he was taking the step “to protect the integrity of the presidency of Kosovo”.

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Kosovo and Serbia give Israel diplomatic boon after US-brokered deal

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Majority-Muslim Kosovo will recognise Jewish state, while Serbia promises to relocate embassy to Jerusalem

Israel scored two diplomatic gains on Friday when majority-Muslim Kosovo agreed to recognise the Jewish state and Serbia said it would move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The decisions came after a White House-brokered agreement between the two Balkan arch-rivals to normalise economic relations two decades after they fought a bitter war.

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Donald Trump hopes for election boost from Kosovo-Serbia talks

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White House summit irritates EU diplomats, who say deal brokered by them is near

The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia will meet at the White House on Thursday and Friday, in an encounter that some see as a push for a diplomatic win for Donald Trump to brandish during his re-election campaign.

Kosovo’s prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, will meet with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, in talks that Trump aides say will be primarily about economic issues between the two countries, but may pave the way to a broader deal.

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