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German top diplomat says Serbia’s rhetoric on Kosovo unacceptable

Kosovo reduced tensions by postponing local elections, Annalena Baerbock said

BERLIN, December 11. /TASS/. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday and Serbia’s rhetoric on the Kosovo problem is unacceptable as it allegedly adds to the tensions around Kosovo.

"Kosovo reduced tensions by postponing local elections. Recent rhetoric from Serbia did the opposite. Suggesting sending Serbian forces to Kosovo is completely unacceptable," she wrote on her Twitter account. "All my support goes to the EU-led dialogue."

Earlier, the Kosovo police detained Dejan Pantic, a former Serb policeman, at the Jarinje checkpoint on the administrative border between Kosovo and Metohija, and central Serbia. In response, the Serb population erected barricades in a highway in several settlements near the checkpoint and took to the streets in protest not to let Pantic be taken to Pristina. KFOR (a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo) and EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) patrols have been pulled to the barricades.

On December 10, President of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani made a decision to postpone early elections in the Serb-populated northern areas of Kosovo and Metohija for five months, to April 23.

On the same day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an address to the nation that Belgrade would ask the KFOR to deploy forces in Kosovo and Metohija under UN Security Council resolution 1244.