Kosovo postpones vehicle license approvals amid rising tensions near Serbian border

Kosovo government has postponed plans of obliging Serbs in the north for car license implementation amid rising tensions between police and local communities. Protests erupted when gravel-filled trucks and heavy machinery were parked on border crossing roads on Sunday. The Serbs are in majority in the region.

The police in Kosovo said that the border crossings had to be closed due to the ongoing tensions. Kosovo KFOR, a mission led by NATO, stated that the overall situation in nothern Kosovo is tense.

Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, said that the Kosovo authorities had imposed discriminatory and groundless rules, which is the cause of the ongoing tension.


It has been 14 years since Kosovo got independence from Serbia and around 50,000 northern Serbs use license plates issued by Serbian authorities, refusing to recognise Pristina Institution.

While Kosovo is recognised as an independent nation by more than 100 countries, Russia and Serbia still don't support its claim. Albin Kurti, who is serving as the Prime Minister of Kosovo, said that Serbs would be given a 60-day transitional period to get license plates from Kosovo.

The government had earlier announced that Serbian citizens that visit Kosovo would require an additional document from the border to enter Kosovo from August 1. There is a similar rule for Kosovars in Serbia.

The government said it would delay its decision by a month following consultations with US and EU ambassadors due to the rising tensions. The plan is now to implement the same from September 1 and not August 1.

The police said on Sunday that shots were fired at the police, but no one was injured, fortunately. They also said that angry protestors attacked cars and beat up Albanians on the blocked road.

About an year ago, some local serbs in a small town located to the North of Mitrovica blocked the road where you could hear air raid sirens for about three hours. The Serbs blocked the roads for license plates, and special police forces had to be deployed.

The European Union intervened to resolve matters between the two nations but nothing could be resolved. Tensions remain high, and the situation is fragile.