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NATO soldier at the border between Kosovo and Serbia (October 2021)
Photo: ARMEND NIMANI / AFP
In the predominantly Serb populated north of Kosovo, militant Serbs have blocked the access routes to two border crossings to Serbia with barricades.
According to their own statements, the police then closed the border crossings.
She asked all citizens to use other crossings.
Unknown persons also fired shots in the direction of Kosovan police officers, the police in Pristina said late Sunday evening.
“Fortunately” no one was injured.
The NATO mission KFOR said in the evening that the security situation in northern Kosovo was tense.
The situation is being closely monitored and, according to the mandate, is “ready to intervene if stability is threatened”.
The NATO-led mission focuses every day on guaranteeing a safe environment and freedom of movement for all people in Kosovo.
The tensions arose because the Kosovan authorities will no longer recognize Serbian identity documents at the border crossings from Monday (00:00).
Serbs with such papers have to have a provisional document issued at the border.
According to the Kosovan interpretation, this is a measure based on reciprocity.
For a long time now, Kosovar citizens have had to have a provisional document issued when they cross the border into Serbia because the Serbian authorities do not recognize the Kosovar papers.
Kosovo, now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, used to belong to Serbia.
In 2008 it declared itself independent.
Serbia does not recognize the statehood of Kosovo and claims its territory for itself.
Russia also does not recognize Kosovo's statehood.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Sunday that "unreasonable discriminatory rules" were responsible for the tense situation.
It was a "further step to expel the Serb population of Kosovo," Marija Zakharova explained to Telegram.
aar/dpa
