As announced by the government of Kosovo, the decision to change the Serbian license plates is not withdrawn, but will start to be implemented from September 1st, not today August 1st as announced.
Tension in northern Kosovo is easing after the Kosovo government decided to suspend for a month the implementation of the decision to replace Serbian license plates.
Pristina took this decision following the intervention of the US, which requested that the measure be temporarily revoked to avoid an escalation of tension.
Interventions in Pristina were also made by the EU with the same request.
As announced by the government of Kosovo, the decision on license plates is not withdrawn, but will start to be implemented from September 1st, not today August 1st as announced.
EU High Representative Josep Borrell said he was satisfied with the development
Pleased with this development, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said, adding that “open issues” should be addressed through “EU-facilitated dialogue”. He also emphasized that the emphasis should be placed on the “total normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia”, an element necessary for “their accession processes”.
“In the end, Serbia will win,” said the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic
The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, after a meeting he had yesterday at midnight with the leadership of the armed forces, declared that he was satisfied that logic had prevailed.
“We are working to calm things down, this is the most important thing for us and no matter how difficult it is, we are not giving up and in the end Serbia will win,” Mr. Vucic said in a statement.
Albin Kurti’s government had given Kosovo Serbs a month to replace their Serbian vehicle plates with ones issued by the Kosovo authorities. It was also decided that Serbian identity cards will not be accepted at the border crossings from today and their holders would be provided with a temporary document for entry into Kosovo with a duration of stay of 90 days.
Demonstrations, barricades and strong police forces
In northern Kosovo, roadblocks were erected on arterial roads leading to the administrative border with Serbia. Strong police forces were deployed in northern Kosovo, while NATO military force (KFOR) forces were put on standby. Last night, shots were heard in northern Kosovo, with some projectiles falling near police positions — but no police officers were injured, Kosovo police said.
Information on social networking sites spoke of the entry of the Serbian army into Kosovo and an exchange of fire with Kosovar police.
However, the Serbian Ministry of Defense denied the information with a statement in which it said: “At the moment, the Serbian army has not crossed the administrative line and has not entered (…) the territory of Kosovo.”
Moscow stood in favor of the Serbs and against the mediating role of the West
Russia also took a position on the developments of the last few hours in Kosovo, with the representative of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, calling the EU’s mediation initiative in Kosovo a failure.
In a statement, she also called on Pristina, the US and the EU “to stop provocations and respect the rights of Serbs in the region”.
“The leaders of Kosovo know that the Serbs will not stand idly by when it comes to a direct attack on their freedoms, and they are deliberately escalating in order to implement a scenario of violence,” the statement said, among other things.
The announcement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“The Kosovo Albanian leaders know that the Serbs will not remain indifferent when their liberties are directly threatened and are deliberately escalating the situation to trigger a military scenario. Of course, the target of the sharp attacks is also Belgrade, which the West wants to further weaken using Albanian hands.”
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