In an effort to renew Kosovo talks, Serbia, Lajcak comes to Pristina today

“We are engaged with partners in Kosovo, sending messages and hoping to be able to finally resolve these issues, to resolve where they belong, in the context of the relaxed dialogue by the European Union”, bloc spokesman Peter Stano said on Thursday.

The European envoy Lajcak warned that the visit to Pristina will be part of efforts to organise a meeting between the two sides' top negotiators amid Western concerns of increasing tensions in northern Kosovo.

Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on citizens to avoid travel through Serbia following warnings from a Serb group for closing border crossings with Kosovo due to developments in the north.

A group of citizens in Serbia said it is aimed as early as Friday to block border crossings with a request for the withdrawal of Kosovo police forces from the north and the return of Serbia's institutions there.

Prosecutor Interrogators of parallel institutions in the north

On August 30th, Kosovo authorities closed Serb parallel municipalities in the north, which they consider illegal, in an operation that sparked criticism from Western diplomacy. Five employees of those institutions have been sent out summons to question the State Prosecutor under suspicion of forging documents.

Serbian List officials chief subject of Kosovo Serbs said at a press conference Thursday that the intervention of authorities in Serbian institutions in the north is the persecution of the Serbian people.

Kosovo's “authorities have always known the existence of Serbia's institutions. It is nothing new that these institutions have functioned, and for them it has been discussed at the international level and negotiated in Brussels how these institutions will operate in the future”, said Lite official Igor Simic.

Mitrovica Mayor Ivan Zaporozhac said after being questioned by the prosecution that this is a political process against him and his colleagues.

I'm proud that I've done it and I continue to do the duty of chairman of temporary authority and I absolutely think I have done my duty honestly. I'm accused of counterfeiting documents and can't speak any more. It's just, there's a lot of tension, big things happened a few days ago. The only thing I can say is that I am here, that all the Serbian people here in Mitrovica territory must be here, be calm and believe that all this will pass and that we will stay and survive in these” areas, he said.

The removal of Serb parallel institutions is envisioned with the 2013 agreement on normalising Kosovo-Serbia relations, but its implementation is stalled.

The European Union and the United States have urged the parties to implement an agreement they agreed on in February and March last year in Brussels and Ohrid.

American Mission to O SBE naught of concern Kosovo government actions in the north

The US mission to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe voiced concern Thursday over the unco-ordinated and provocative actions of the Kosovo government, which have had a direct and negative effect on members of the ethnic Serb community and other minority communities in Kosovo.

In a communiqué of this mission, the government reportedly has put Kosovo citizens and NATO-led forces at greater risk and undermine Kosovo's reputation as a reliable international partner”.

American Mission to O The SEU said issues dealing with structures supported by Serbia in Kosovo should be addressed through dialogue facilitated by the European Union.

“The dialogue on normalisation facilitated by the EU between Kosovo and Serbia is the way to ensure that Kosovo has better relations with its neighbours and progress on its European path”, said the communiques calling on Kosovo and Serbia to implement the relationship of a year ago”, said in the communique.