Kosovo reopens major border crossing with Serbia as standoff eases

Kosovo has reopened its biggest border crossing with Serbia hours after Serb protesters in the north promised to remove roadblocks, easing a surge in tensions that has alarmed world powers.

Barricades were dismantled on the Serbian side of the Merdare border point on Thursday, and Kosovo announced the opening of the crossing a day after the European Union and the US urged both parties to ease a simmering crisis.

Late on Wednesday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced the removal of the barricades during his meeting with Kosovo Serb representatives near the border.

Both the EU and US have been pressing Kosovo and Serbia to step back from a mounting confrontation that has seen Serbia put its army on the highest combat alert.

Serbs in northern Kosovo had erected the roadblocks since December 10 in protest at the arrest of a former Serb policeman - the latest in a long series of flashpoints. On Thursday, the former officer was moved to house arrest.

Many of the roadblocks still appeared to be in place on Thursday morning, though officials had said the process might take some time.

READ MORE: Serbia's Vucic says Kosovo Serbs will end blockade amid tension in Balkans

Tensions remained high, however, as two burned-out trucks filled with gravel stood on a bridge close to the ethically divided town of Mitrovica, some 50 kilometres from the reopened Merdare crossing. 

Kosovo police said they were investigating an arson attack.

Around 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognise the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a separate country.

They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.

'Controlled conflict'

Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with the backing of the West following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.

Kosovo police said they had reopened the Merdare crossing - the most important for road freight that links the landlocked state with western European countries - after roadblocks came down on the Serbian side of the border.

They called on people from the diaspora to use the crossing, which was closed at midnight on Tuesday, to come home for the holidays.

Two border other crossings with Serbia in Kosovo's north remain closed since December 10.

Kosovo has long been a source of tension between the West, which backed its independence, and Russia, which supports Serbia in its efforts to block Kosovo's membership in global organisations including the United Nations.

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed accusations from Kosovo's interior minister that Russia was influencing Serbia to destabilise Kosovo, saying that Serbia was defending the rights of ethnic Serbs.

Political analyst Aleksandar Popov told AFP news agency that tensions in Kosovo are so high that it would "only take one stray bullet" to significantly aggravate the situation.

However, he labelled the recent unrest a "controlled conflict" and an arm-wrestling contest between Belgrade and Pristina over the influence in the north, where authorities for years have been seeking a special status within Kosovo.

READ MORE: Why tensions have flared up between Kosovo and Serbia