Kosovo delays border measures amid Serbia tensions

Kosovo's authorities on Monday moved to ease mounting tensions by delaying an order on vehicle license plates and identity cards that triggered riots among minority Serbs.

Following the postponement of the measures, Serbs in North Kosovo removed barricades they had previously put up along two border crossings between the neighboring countries.

Over the weekend, the Kosovo government accused Belgrade of instigating unrest in order to destabilize the country that declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said Kosovo was guilty of making unacceptable "unilateral actions" in order to target the small country's Serb population, urging Pristina to change course.

"It is not only about ID cards and registering vehicle plates. It is about the way of behavior," Selakovic said. "If someone is really oriented to search for the peaceful solution for all the existing issues, then that one should not act in the way they been acting."

Serbian ally Russia criticized the Kosovo government's actions, claiming the latest measures were intended to force the remaining Serbs out of Kosovo.

There are fears in the West that Moscow could use Serbia to destabilize the Balkans and thus divert some of the attention away from its invasion of Ukraine.

EU invites both sides for talks

The European Union responded to tensions by inviting both Kosovo and Serbia for talks in Brussels.

The meeting will "discuss the way forward, to find solutions and to prevent such tensions from reappearing," EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said. 

"Let me recall, and repeat once again, that all open issues between Serbia and Kosovo need to be addressed through the EU facilitated dialogue," he said, without giving a date for the talks. 

The EU issued the invitation after Kosovo agreed to postpone the introduction of new rules for its border crossing with Serbia after tensions rose in the region, the EU spokesperson said.

Germany welcomes move by Kosovo

Meanwhile, the German government said it was monitoring developments closely after what it described as "a very serious escalation of the situation yesterday in the north of Kosovo," a Foreign Office spokesman told reporters in Berlin on Monday.

Nevertheless, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht welcomed Kosovo's decision to postpone the implementation of travel documents for people entering the territory with Serbian IDs.

"It is good that the Kosovo government has now reacted calmly and is thus contributing to easing tensions," she said.

The area near the border has long been a flashpoint between the two communities following the war in the 1990s that triggered a NATO bombing campaign paving the way for Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.

jsi/awv (AP, AFP, dpa)