Leaders of both sides have agreed on implementation annex of the agreement on the path to normalisation of relations between them, says EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, but Serbia refuses to sign pact.
During a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Ankara emphasised its continued efforts to ensure Kosovo reaches the position it deserves in the international arena.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia had escalated since the December 10 detention of former Serbian police officer Dejan Pantic on suspicion of attacking election officials. Serbs erected barricades, demanding Pancic's release.
Pristina's decision to reopen border crossing in Merdare follows the decision of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Kosovo Serb allies to remove barricades set up in early December.
The Merdare entry point is Kosovo's most important border crossing while two smaller crossings on the Serbian border in the north are also closed since Dec. 10 as relations between the two countries stay tense.
"Serbia, influenced by Russia, has raised a state of military readiness... to protect criminal groups that terrorise... citizens of Serb ethnicity living in Kosovo," says Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla.
After weeks of escalating tensions, the Serbian army has announced highest combat alert while Serbs in Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected barricades with several demands.
Ethnic Serbs have blocked the main roadways in the northern part of Kosovo to protest the arrest of a former Serb officer. But there is more to this than meets the eye.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the bloc-led mission in Kosovo "remains vigilant".
Kosovo PM Albin Kurti says "we will respond to aggression with all the strength we have" after Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic says he will ask NATO to deploy Serbian forces in Kosovo's volatile north.
Serbia and Kosovo agreed on a new border policy under an EU-facilitated dialogue process on Saturday,
How a license plate row morphed into a diplomatic crisis between the neighbouring Balkan countries.
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