Tensions in the Balkans: Kosovo closes largest border crossing to Serbia

In the Balkans, disputes between Serbia and Kosovo continue to escalate.

After Serbia put the army on alert due to rising tensions, Kosovo closed the largest border crossing with the neighboring country on Wednesday.

Previously, on the Serbian side, demonstrators had blocked access to the Merdare crossing.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo said on Facebook that anyone traveling in Serbia must use other border crossings or enter the country via North Macedonia.

On the night of Wednesday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also visited an army barracks in the town of Raska near the border.

On his Instagram page he published a photo showing him with Serbian Chief of Staff Milan Mojsilovic.

He thanks all members of the security forces who would do everything to protect the Serbs in Kosovo, wrote Vucic.

Most important border crossing for trucks

Two other border crossings have been closed since December 10th.

Only three crossings between Kosovo and Serbia are currently open.

The blockade of Merdare has particularly serious consequences for Kosovo, because thousands of Kosovars working abroad who want to use the holidays to visit their homeland are forced to take detours.

In addition, Merdare is the most important border crossing for trucks.

Almost three weeks ago, militant Serbs erected barricades in the predominantly Serb-inhabited north of Kosovo, blocking the roads to the border crossings to Serbia in particular.

In doing so, they are protesting against the arrest of a former Kosovo police officer of Serbian origin who, according to the Kosovan authorities, had led attacks on officials of the electoral commission.

The militants are supported and sometimes even instructed by the government in Belgrade.

50,000 Serbs in northern Kosovo

Around 50,000 Serbs live in the northern part of the majority Albanian Kosovo.

For years they have refused to recognize the government in Pristina or Kosovo as a state.

Serbia designates Kosovo as an autonomous province.

Many UN member states also do not recognize the region as an independent state.

Kosovo, which is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, used to belong to Serbia and has been independent since 2008.

In 1999, NATO bombed Serbia after Serbian security forces killed and expelled Albanian civilians.

Until 2008, Kosovo was then administered by the UN mission Unmik.

Raska is about ten kilometers from the border with Kosovo.

The barracks Vucic visited is not far from a five-kilometer-wide buffer zone along the Kosovo border, into which Serbian security forces are only allowed to penetrate with the permission of the NATO-led security force KFOR stationed in Kosovo.

This is part of the arrangements made after the NATO airstrikes that led to the complete withdrawal of Serbian security forces and administration from Kosovo.