US urges Kosovo, Serbia to ease tensions, seeks release of police officers

The US State Department has said Kosovo and Serbia must both take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions, which includes the unconditional release of three Kosovo police officers detained by Serbia.

"We believe that Kosovo and Serbia must both take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Thursday.

The detention of the police officers on Wednesday night is the latest in a series of developments that have raised tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, sparking fears of renewed violence between the two states.

Kosovo has tightened controls on its border with Serbia following the arrest of three of its policemen by Serbian forces, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said earlier.

"Because of the security concerns as an immediate step border controls have been tightened with Serbia," Kurti told a press conference on Thursday.

Kurti also said, "We demand the immediate release of the three kidnapped police officers and call on the international community to condemn Serbia's act of aggression,".

Both Belgrade and Pristina gave different locations of the arrest of the three policemen, with each accusing the other side of crossing the border illegally.

At the Merdare border crossing, the biggest between Kosovo and Serbia, there was a long line of trucks on Thursday morning following Kosovo's decision to ban trucks with Serbian licence plates and Serbian goods from entering its territory.

A Reuters reporter saw small vehicles with Serbian licence plates crossing the border, despite the government's announcement that it would ban all vehicles, including cars.

Vucic meets EU envoys

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has said the three Kosovo policemen were arrested deep in Serbian territory, met ambassadors of the United States, Italy, France, Germany and Britain, known as the Quint group.

"I spoke to representatives of the EU and the Quint group. I have asked them to do whatever is in their power to stop Kurti from initiating another war in the Balkans," Vucic wrote on his Instagram account after the meeting.

On Wednesday, the European Union said it had agreed to punitive measures on Kurti's government, accusing him of failing to take steps to defuse the broader crisis.

EU spokesperson Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels on Thursday that the measures were temporary and could be reversed, but were necessary because "until now we haven't seen any meaningful decisive steps for immediate de-escalation".

Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence in 2008. It is recognised by more than 100 countries, including UK, Germany, France and Türkiye. However, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence and continues to claim the territory even though it has no formal control there.

Kosovo and Serbia share a 400 km (250-mile) border which has not been clearly marked or agreed upon.

Violence flared last month when 30 NATO peacekeepers and 52 Serbs were injured in clashes in four predominantly ethnic Serbian municipalities in northern Kosovo.