Vuciqi wants barricades in northern Kosovo again, nervous with KFOR, who said he would not allow that

Your goal should be to protect the Serbian population, they are minorities. Why are you helping Albanians suppress this minority. Why, along with Albanians, are you mistreating Serbs, whether it is your duty to help Serbs”, Vuciq said on 24 August in Belgrade during a meeting of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

KFOR Commander Major General Ferenc Kayári told Kosovo public television on August 23rd that the situation in northern Kosovo is calm and that international forces will no longer allow the establishment of barricades.

Earlier, this mission has warned that it is willing to intervene if stability is threatened in Kosovo.

Vucic explained that he will send a letter to KFOR after holding talks with US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar and EU Special Envoy for Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak. They will meet in Belgrade with Serbian officials on 25 August.

The Serbian president added that he interprets the role of KFOR and NATO differently. According to him, the crisis cannot be solved this way, but only through political talks.

Vuciq also thanked US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill for statements made the previous day, when the US diplomat said that at the last round of dialogue in Brussels, Serbia had gone and prepared, while other parties did not.

According to Serbia's leader, these statements do not imply that there will be major American policy differences towards Kosovo, while Washington was among the first to recognise Kosovo's independence in 2008.

The “Americans are great power, superpowers, and they do not change their policies because of little Serbia. Vuciq cannot change their policy, but I can show them respect, but even through respect for our country, which we can be Maccompromiss) so we don't at least create daily problems, but be reasonable”, Vuciq said.

Escobar and Lajcak have held meetings in Pristina during 24 August with institutional leaders and opposition party leaders. They said the purpose of their visit is to avoid repeating the escalation of the situation on September 1st. Similarly, Western officials said they expect Kosovo and Serbia to submit concrete proposals for resolving Serbian license issues and documents.

The Kosovo government's decisions on these two issues prompted Serbs to block roads in northern Kosovo on July 31st and August 1st. After the barricades were removed, the government pledged it would postpone implementing decisions by September 1st.

Kosovo's government has argued that all cars with license plates issued by Serbia with acronyms of Kosovo cities must be reregistered to the RKS Republic of Kosovo. But Serbia has demanded that KS plates be used, which are neutral to Kosovo's independence.

Meanwhile, Pristina also wants all citizens of Serbia -- once they enter Kosovo territory -- to be equipped with documents for entry/exit, as Kosovo citizens are equipped when they enter Serbia.

Kosovo has proposed that it completely give up issuing these documents, if Serbia does the same. For issuing documents for entry and exits, the parties had reached agreement years ago, within the EU-brokered dialogue. / REL