On Wednesday, ethnic Serbs in a northern town staged further demonstrations, intensifying efforts to de-escalate the Kosovo conflict.
Numerous people were hurt in previous encounters between protestors and NATO-led troops, which sparked worries about the possibility of further hostilities in the hazardous area.
Hundreds of Serbs rallied to demand the departure of the Kosovo Special Police and "fake" ethnic Albanian mayors from northern Kosovo, where Serbs are a majority, according to AP News.
At a summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, European Union officials met with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to avert an escalation of the Kosovo crisis. France and Germany have planned a Thursday conference in Moldova with Serbia and Kosovo leaders.
Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign strategy, said the current scenario is "dangerous and unsustainable," thus a prompt de-escalation must be done.
Kurti believed Russia was engaged in the latest disturbance because demonstrators graffitied the letter "Z" to show their support for President Putin and the Russian military's aggressiveness in Ukraine. Serbia is allied with Russia, but populist authorities in Belgrade want EU membership.
The Serbs are supported by Moscow, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who also acknowledged that Moscow is carefully watching the situation in Kosovo.
The demonstration outside Zvecan's municipal hall, 45 kilometers north of Pristina, ended peacefully on Wednesday. However, ethnic Serbs tried to assault municipal buildings on Monday, clashing with Kosovo police and troops and injuring 30 NATO soldiers and 50 protesters.
Amid the unrest, NATO sent 700 more troops to Kosovo due to casualties incurred by its peacekeeping forces during the confrontations. Kosovo's important partner, the United States, denounced the government's conduct, canceling its participation in joint military drills and diplomatic discussions. The US also condemned Serbian assaults on NATO forces, according to the BBC.
A Conflicted Region
Despite being a minority in Kosovo, Serbs predominate in several regions along the Serbian border. Belgrade has not acknowledged Kosovo's 2008 proclamation of independence; hence many Serbs oppose it.
For years, tensions have existed between the Serb minority and the government controlled by Albanians. The current conflicts come from disputed local elections in the north, which the overwhelming Serb population boycotted.
EU officials are mediating negotiations to improve ties between Serbia and Kosovo. These discussions have yielded several agreements, but implementation is sluggish. There were developments in several areas, such as freedom of mobility, per Al Jazeera.
Border changes and land swaps have been proposed as solutions to the Kosovo conflict. Still, many EU countries opposed it out of concern that it could set off a series of repercussions in other ethnically diverse Balkan regions, causing more unrest after the 1990s wars.
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