Kosovo minister sees Russian influence in growing Serbian tension

Kosova’s Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla has accused Serbia, under the influence of Russia, of attempting to destabilize his country by supporting the Serb minority in northern Kosovo who have blocked roads in an escalation of weeks of protests.

Serbs in the ethnically-divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected new barricades on Tuesday, hours after Serbia said it had put its military on the highest combat footing following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina over the protests.

The new barriers, made of heavily-loaded trucks, were put in place overnight in Mitrovica and represent the first time since the recent crisis started that Serbs have blocked streets in one of Kosovo’s main towns. Until now, barricades had been set on roads leading to the Kosovo-Serbia border.

The trucks have been parked to block the road linking the Serb-majority part of the town to the Albanian-majority part.

“It is precisely Serbia, influenced by Russia, that has raised a state of military readiness and that is ordering the erection of new barricades, in order to justify and protect the criminal groups that terrorize,” Svecla said in a statement on Tuesday.

Serbia denies it is trying to destabilize its neighbor Kosovo and says it only wants to protect the Serbian minority living in what is now Kosovan territory but is not recognized by Belgrade.