Serbs from Kosovo face unrest in Zveče. Photo: AFP
The United States has removed Kosovo from military exercises as the tiny Balkan country has been accused by Western allies of provoking a violent crisis in relations with Serbia.
Jeffrey Hovenier, the US ambassador to Kosovo, said the country's troops were not will allow participation in the international exercises Defender 23, in which more than 20 countries participate.
«The actions taken by the Kosovo government … have created this crisis atmosphere in the north,» Mr. Hovenje said, referring to the pressure from ethnic Albanian mayors on cities dominated by the country's small Serb minority.
Violent clashes broke out on Monday as the government sent police to the northern city of Zvecan to help one of the mayors get started.
The Serbian government has readied its military and sent more troops to the border, saying the mayors were illegitimate as only four percent of the electorate voted in polling stations boycotted by Serbs.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday joined the US condemnation , stating that the Pristina authorities were «responsible» for the protests, which included 30 people. NATO peacekeepers wounded.
It is unusual for Paris and Washington to oppose Kosovo, whose independence from Serbia was secured in 1999 after NATO bombings supported by the armed forces of both countries.
The UK, which also took part in the NATO campaign, has yet to comment on the outbreak. as the government works with Albania on a deal to try and stem the flow of migrants.
Hundreds of Serbs on Wednesday called for the country's «fake mayors and special police unfurling a giant Serbian flag in Zvecan» to be withdrawn from northern Kosovo.
< p>Mr. Hovenier, the US ambassador, said the US asked Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti to take «immediate steps» to de-escalate the crisis, but he «did not respond.»
Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State, said that the decision to appoint mayors led to «an abrupt and unnecessary escalation of tensions». He also denounced «unacceptable violence» against NATO troops.
Mr Macron said he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plan to meet with Mr Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday to defuse the crisis .
“The current situation is dangerous and unsustainable,” US Foreign Secretary Josep Borrell said on Wednesday. «We need an urgent de-escalation.»
But Mr. Kurti on Tuesday showed no signs of bowing to pressure from his Western allies, saying: there are special units.”
Map: Regional unrest in northern Kosovo
Kosovo's prime minister also suggested that Russia could be involved in the latest outbreak, pointing to protesters «painting graffiti with the letter Z, the symbol of Russia's war in Ukraine.»
Fears are growing about a return to the end of the conflict 1990s, which killed more than 13,000 people. Lord Robertson, the former head of NATO, told the BBC that Kosovo should have handled the situation better.
“The fact that their close friends like the Americans are warning them very harshly should make them rethink your actions.”
On Tuesday, NATO announced that it would send an additional 700 troops to northern Kosovo to deal with tensions.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would also “put an additional battalion of reserve forces on high alert so they can expand if necessary. He called the move «prudent».
The crisis in Kosovo is further fueling the conflict between the West and Russia, which considers itself a defender of the rights of the Serbs.
«We believe that all legal rights and interests of Kosovo Serbs,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. «We unreservedly support Serbia and the Serbs.»
He warned against «provocative actions that could harm the rights of the Serbs.»
Neither Serbia nor Russia will recognize the independence of Kosovo, proclaimed in 2008.
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic jumped into action earlier this week, claiming Kosovo was «in the heart of Serbia» at the French Open.
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