Kosovo

Türkiye also has troops in Kosovo as part of KFOR's multinational peacekeeping force in the Balkans. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo rose Sunday ahead of ...

''The overall security situation in the northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense. Kosovo, which Albanians predominantly inhabit, broke away from Serbia in 1999 and declared its independence in 2008. NATO's force in Kosovo says it is prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized

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 ...

Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings. Italian peacekeepers were visible in and around Mitrovica on Sunday. The government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti said it would give Serbs a transitional period of 60 days to get Kosovo license plates, a year after giving up trying to impose them because of similar protests.

Kosovo's government is acccusing neighboring Serbia of trying to destabilize the country as ethnic Serbs block roads and conduct other incidents in the ...

The reverse is required by Serbia for vehicles from Kosovo that go to Serbia. But Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo said it was monitoring the “tense” situation in northern Kosovo and was “prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized.”

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

A similar rule is applied by Belgrade authorities to Kosovars who visit Serbia. Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings. The statement said KFOR was “monitoring closely” and “prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardised”.

Kosovo's government is acccusing neighboring Serbia of trying to destabilize the country as ethnic Serbs block roads and conduct other incidents in the ...

The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo said it was monitoring the “tense” situation in northern Kosovo and was “prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized.” But Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. A Kosovo government statement said that many “aggressive acts” like road blocking and shooting in the northern areas dominated by ethnic Serbs were committed Sunday and charged that they were incited by Serbia.

An air of hostility rose in the region a day before Kosovan government regulations concerning Serbian-issued licence plates and ID documents come into ...

According to reports machine gun fire was heard just over 10 km west of the Serbian and Kosovo borders. Footage has surfaced on Twitter from the Serbian-Kosovo border region, in which sirens and machine gun fire can be heard. In addition, a new regulation regarding licence plates will also come into effect on August 1.

The NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission said it is monitoring the protests over a new ID law and is prepared to intervene "if stability is jeopardized.”

The weekend unrest comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stirred wider tensions in the region. The Western military alliance launched a bombing campaign in 1999 that hit targets across what was then combined Serbia and Montenegro in a bid to halt Serbia’s onslaught against ethnic Kosovar Albanians fighting for autonomy. Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, welcomed a decision by Kosovo to delay the new measures until Sept. 1 and called for all roadblocks to be removed immediately.

On July 31, ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo blocked roads near two key border crossings with Serbia as tensions rose in the region a day before the two ...

Satellite photos taken before and after the attack show that a small building in the middle of the Olenivka prison complex was damaged, its roof in splinters. The department said they played various roles in Russia’s attempts to manipulate and destabilize the United States and its allies and partners, including Ukraine. The Kremlin said importers had to establish an account in dollars or euros at Russia’s third-largest bank, Gazprombank, then a second account in rubles. Headquartered in Mykolayiv, a strategically important city that borders the Russian-occupied Kherson region, Nibulon, specializes in the production and export of wheat, barley. The Russian Defense Ministry on July 30 published a list naming 48 Ukrainian fighters aged 20 to 62 who were killed in the attack. "We are ready for the EU and are moving forward with a firm step toward full membership of the union. Putin stressed that the navy's ability to respond to threats with "lightning speed" was key to protecting Russia's sovereignty and freedom. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. We only need a decision from the people themselves, who have not yet made it for themselves," he said in his nightly address on July 31. Turkey's Defense Ministry said in a statement that the vessel was expected in Istanbul on August 2. Ukraine has always been a reliable partner and will remain one should Russia respect its part of the deal," Kuleba tweeted. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Tensions arise after Pristina asks people entering Kosovo with Serbian IDs to replace them with a temporary document.

They remain politically loyal to Serbia which still provides financial support. The latest tensions came after the government in Pristina said from Monday, people entering Kosovo with Serbian IDs would have to replace them with a temporary document during their stay in the country. Kosovo’s government has postponed for a month the implementation of new border rules that sparked tensions in the north of the country where ethnic Serbs blocked roads and unknown gunmen fired on police.

Fears of Balkan instability grew on Sunday as ethnic Serbs blocked roads in protest over regulations requiring Serbs in northern Kosovo to use Pristina-issued ...

“Expect all roadblocks to be removed immediately,” he said. “The overall security situation in the Northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense,” KFOR said in a statement, adding that the “mission is monitoring closely and is prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized, in accordance with its mandate.” The spat over license plates already fueled tensions last year.

Kosovo has put off new border rules with Serbia following another flare-up in ethnic violence.

Serbian protesters in North Mitrovica, a majority-Serb town inside Kosovo, also beat up Albanian people and attacked cars, Kosovo police added. "This is also an example of what place Serbia has been prepared for in the European Union by offering Belgrade to de facto put up with the lack of rights of its compatriots [inside Kosovo]," she said. "Such a development of events is more evidence of the failure of the mediation mission of the European Union," Russian spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who is on an EU blacklist on grounds of spreading propaganda, said. "The overall security situation in the Northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense," Kfor, a Nato-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, said in a statement on Sunday. Serbia is in the middle of EU accession talks, but has close ties to Moscow — it has declined to match Western sanctions on Russia, while stockpiling Russian weapons in recent years. The events were a repeat of last autumn, when Kosovo scrambled special police and Serbia flew warplanes near the border in a dispute about licence plates.

Kosovo's government on Monday began issuing extra documents to Serbian citizens crossing into its territory, as Serbs living in the north of the country who ...

Italian peacekeepers were visible in and around then northern town of Mitrovica on Sunday. A year ago, after local Serbs blocked the same roads in another row over license plates, Kosovo's government deployed special police forces and Belgrade flew fighter jets close to the border. Following tensions on Sunday and consultations with US and EU ambassadors, the government said it would postpone until September 1 a decision giving local Serbs 60 days to switch to Kosovo license plates and requiring extra documents to be issued at the border to Serbian citizens, including those living in Kosovo without local documents.

The Kosovo government postponed implementation of a decision that would oblige Serbs in the north to apply for car license plates after tensions heightened.

Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings. Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings. Italian peacekeepers were visible in and around Mitrovica on Sunday.

Under new regulations that were meant to take effect on Aug. 1, ethnic Serbs living in villages in northern Kosovo would have had to apply for license plates ...

Serbia and Kosovo fought a brutal war between 1998 and 1999 that ended with the involvement of NATO in a U.S.-backed bombing campaign against Serbian territory. Members of the Kosovo Liberation Army were also accused of committing war crimes against ethnic Serbs in Kosovo and those they viewed as collaborators. Western countries and NATO became involved, bringing the parties together in France in February 1999 to negotiate a truce. The creation of the force was approved by a U.N. Security Council resolution. Albin Kurti, Kosovo’s prime minister, accused the protesters of trying to “destabilize” Kosovo and charged that Serbia was orchestrating “aggressive acts” during the protests. Kosovo’s allies, including the United States and European Union, called for calm and urged Pristina to delay implementation of the new rules. Another rule would have forced Serbian nationals visiting Kosovo to get an additional entry-exit document from Kosovar authorities at the border. Serbia imposes a similar rule on Kosovars seeking to cross its borders. Since the 1998-99 war, some in that population had used Serbian license plates with a different status. Authorities in Kosovo tolerated the dual-track system to preserve the peace but said last year they would no longer do so. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, but Serbia still considers Kosovo its province. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said, “We have never been in a more difficult situation.”