FLASH
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Serbia has withdrawn some of its troops from the border with Kosovo after warnings from the US that it could face punitive measures for what the White House writes to the British newspaper, The Guardian.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that he had ordered the withdrawal of troops.
The Guradian reports that a Kosovar government official confirmed a partial Serbian withdrawal on Saturday, with the removal of troops and equipment that had been moved to positions around the border in the past five days, leaving behind a still-sizable force that is permanently deployed. in the area.
The withdrawal followed a public statement of concern from the White House, a scathing appeal to Vucic by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the reinforcement of NATO's peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, with hundreds of British troops.
In his conversation with Vucic, Blinken called for "immediate de-escalation" and a return to the previous agreement to normalize relations with Kosovo.
According to Vucic, Blinken said that there could be American measures against Serbia if he does not comply with the request.
“I said you are a superpower and you can do or say whatever you want, but I am totally against that. I think it would be very bad," the Serbian president told the Tanjug press agency.
On Saturday evening, Germany's ambassador to the US, Andreas Michaelis, described the situation as "another powder keg in Europe" and a risk that must be taken seriously.
Michaelis said on social media that there had been "very close cooperation between Germany and the US in the last days and hours", which had been "absolutely key to avoid further escalation".
"Serbia must act now", said Michaelis.
The US warnings came at the end of a week of high tension, beginning with an ambush by well-armed Serbian paramilitaries on a Kosovo police patrol in which one police officer was killed. Three Serb gunmen were killed in the ensuing battle near the village of Banjska.
The armed group was led by Milan Radoicic, the vice president of Lista Serbe, a Belgrade-backed party that represents the Serb minority in northern Kosovo. Through a lawyer, Radoicic said he was responsible for the exchange of fire with Kosovo police, but did not explain the source of the modern weapons the Serbian paramilitaries were carrying.
The Kosovo government released a document purporting to show that a grenade launcher the group had been carrying had been given to them by the Serbian army, and officials in Pristina expressed concern that Sunday's clash was intended to provide a pretext for a Serbian military intervention in northern Kosovo.
Serbia declared a day of mourning for the three dead Kosovo Serbs, and Vučić falsely claimed that Kosovo forces were conducting a campaign of "brutal ethnic cleansing" against ethnic Serbs.
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