EU, US urge ‘maximum restraint’ on Serbia-Kosovo tensions – Reuters

Pristina and Belgrade should “refrain from any provocation, threat or intimidation” in the face of rising tensions in northern Kosovo, the European Union and the United States wrote in a joint statement on Wednesday.

“We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint (and) take immediate action to de-escalate the situation unconditionally,” the statement read.

EU and US diplomats are working with both governments to “find a political solution to de-escalate tensions and agree on a way forward in the interests of stability, security and well-being. be of all local communities”, according to the same statement, which comes from the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the US State Department.

The joint US-EU announcement comes just hours after Moscow, a close ally of Serbia, said it “supports Belgrade in the actions that are being taken”, in a statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov , to the press. by Agence France Presse.

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo – a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade does not recognize – have escalated in the past week.

On Monday, Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević announced that the Serbian military had been placed at its “highest level of combat readiness” following unverified reports that Kosovar police forces had opened fire on ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo. Authorities have denied the incident.