BELGRADE, August 1. /TASS/. The conflict in the Balkan region is being deliberately fomented by external forces, a Serbian lawmaker said on Sunday.

"I am afraid that the conflict in the Balkans is being fueled deliberately. It may flare up in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro - anywhere," Vladimir Djukanovic, a [arliament member with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, said in an interview with the Kurir television channel.

According to Djukanovic, Pristina would have never ventured any steps to escalate the situation if it would not be ordered to by its Western patrons.

The situation in Kosovo and Metohija deteriorated dramatically on Sunday evening after Kosovo’s police closed the checkpoint at the border with Serbia. In response, Serbs in the north of Kosovo took to the streets and blocked key highways. Police and the Kosovo Force (KFOR), a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, were pulled to the bridge across the Ibar River, which links Kosovska Mitrovica’s northern and southern parts.

In his address to the nation, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier that the situation for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija has aggravated after Pristina had decided to ban Serbian documents starting from midnight from Sunday to Monday.