Kosovo announced today, Wednesday, the closure of the main crossing on the border with Serbia, accusing it of seeking to destabilize it after Belgrade put its forces on alert.

The rapid developments come against the background of the continuous protests of the Serb minority in the former Serbian region, while a British official warned of the seriousness of the current tension between the two countries.

The Kosovo authorities took the decision to close the crossing, which is located on its eastern border with Serbia, after protesters closed the "Mardari" crossing on the Serbian side of the border with trucks and tractors.

It is the third border crossing to be closed since December 10, and there are still 3 other crossing points open.

The Reuters news agency said that the closure of the crossing impedes the return of thousands of Kosovo citizens who work in Europe to their country.

On Tuesday, groups of Serbs set up two new checkpoints in the towns of Zvešan and Mitrovica, north of Kosovo, shortly after Serbia declared its army on high alert due to the escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

This step comes in the context of protests that erupted since last summer, but worsened this month after Serbs in northern Kosovo began blocking roads in response to Pristina's efforts to tighten its security grip on the northern regions.

The Serb minority, which currently numbers 50,000 according to Reuters, does not recognize the authority of the Pristina government, and Serbia has so far refused to recognize the independence of Kosovo, which was a province of its own until 2008.

The Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, confirmed that if the peacekeeping force of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union Mission did not remove the barriers, the Kosovo police would remove them within a few days.

A street blocked by Serb protesters with trucks in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo (Reuters)

hit stability

Meanwhile, Kosovar Prime Minister Hilal Svekla accused Serbia of seeking, with Russia's push, to destabilize his country.

Svikla also accused Belgrade of pushing the Serb minority to set up barriers and protect what it described as criminal gangs in the northern regions.

In London, Alicia Cairns, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the British House of Commons, warned of the seriousness of the escalation of tension between Serbia and Kosovo, and said that "the escalation and continued aggression by Serbia against Kosovo is dangerous and unacceptable," as she put it.

In a tweet, Cairns urgently urged the British Foreign Office to put more focus and effort on events in the Western Balkans, particularly Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbian President Aleksander Vucic had ordered the army to be put on high alert after news of Pristina's intention to implement a security campaign in the northern regions where the Serb minority has been demonstrating since the beginning of the month by blocking main roads in protest against the arrest of a former Kosovo Serb policeman.

Vucic accused the West and Kosovo Albanians of plotting to target the Serb population in Kosovo.

Before that, the Serbian Chief of Staff, Milan Moiselovic, said that Vucic ordered him to go to the border area with Kosovo, describing the situation there as difficult and complex.

Last week, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic warned that the situation in Kosovo is on the brink of armed conflict, while Kosovo accused its neighbor of seeking to spark a new war under the pretext of protecting the Serb minority.

Recently, Kosovo began deploying more police units in the north of the country, two days after explosions and sirens were heard in the cities north of Kosovo, ahead of early elections that were scheduled for December 18 in 4 municipalities, before they were postponed.