The European Union has urged Kosovo and Serbia to de-escalate the tense situation in the region as a U.S. envoy arrived in Pristina after Serbian protesters in northern Kosovo blocked main roads in the area for a third day.
The latest protests on December 12 were triggered by the arrest two days earlier of ethnic Serbian police officer Dejan Pantic, who was part of a mass resignation of Serbs from the force last month.
The move came after Pristina said it would require Serbs to scrap Serbian license plates dating to before the 1998-99 Kosovo War that led to independence.
Kosovo, which used to be part of Serbia, fought a war against Belgrade in 1998-1999, and eventually declared independence in 2008, a move quickly endorsed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and most major European powers, but rejected by the Serbs and their ally Russia.
Ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo have been using car plates issued by Serbian institutions since the end of the war, plates regarded as illegal by the Kosovo government but tolerated until now in four northern municipalities with Serb majorities.
Explosions and shootings were reported as tensions rose between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs after six roadblocks were set up in solidarity with Pantic, who was charged with domestic terrorism after being accused of allegedly attacking state offices, election commission offices, police officers, and election officials in northern Kosovo.
No injuries have been reported from the violence that broke out on the night of December 10-11 following Pantic's arrest and after Serbian officials suggested that Serbian military and police could be sent in across the Balkan countries' partially recognized border.
"I know the two parts are willing to de-escalate and I strongly call on the two of them to do it," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said as he arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on December 12.
"They have to come back to the dialogue, they have to overcome this tendency to fighting in the street," Borrell said.
The U.S. special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, was in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, on December 12 for talks with Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti to look for ways to reduce tensions in the region.
Derek Chollet, a U.S. State Department counselor, was supposed to accompany Escobar on the trip but said on December 12 he was postponing his travel after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Kremlin called for a "diplomatic" resolution to the tensions.
"We are in favor of the parties making efforts of a peaceful nature and this situation being resolved through diplomatic means," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"We stand for ensuring that all of the rights of the Serbs are guaranteed," he added.
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Serb Protesters Block Kosovo Roads
For a third day on December 12, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles blocked several main roads leading to two border crossings with Serbia. Both crossings were closed to traffic.
President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia would seek the return of its forces to Kosovo on December 15. Vucic said he would send a request to send up to 1,000 security forces to the commander of the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, known as KFOR.
KFOR has not responded to a request for comment from RFE/RL.
Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic arrived on December 12 in Raska, a Serbian municipality close to the Jarinje border crossing with Kosovo. Vucevic was to visit the members of the Serbian Army who are stationed in that area.
The U.S. embassies in Pristina and Belgrade said in a joint statement that the United States "expresses deep concern about the current situation in the north of Kosovo."
Kosovar and Serbian officials have increasingly engaged in heated rhetoric in recent days, despite the postponement of contentious municipal elections that angered ethnic Serbs and international efforts to broker a deal to ease tensions over the dispute over license plates.