Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on June 15 that Kosovo was still allowing Serb vehicles to cross its border but only after tightened controls following what Pristina said was the "kidnapping" of three of its police officers by Serbian forces in the predominantly ethnic Serb northern part of Kosovo -- a region where tensions have been running high for weeks over the installation of ethnic Albanian mayors.
"For security reasons, as an immediate and necessary step, border controls with Serbia have been tightened, limiting traffic and increasing controls on vehicles coming from Serbia, especially road freight vehicles," Kurti told a news conference in Pristina.
Kosovar police said on June 14 that the three officers went missing during a patrol aimed at preventing the illegal use of roads for smuggling.
Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla accused Serbia of "entering the territory of Kosovo and kidnapping" the three policemen.
Belgrade says the officers were arrested "deep inside" Serbian territory.
A government spokesman in Pristina said late on June 14 that for "security reasons" all vehicles with Serbian license plates would be barred from entering the territory of Kosovo. RFE/RL correspondents on the ground said on June 15 that vehicles with Serbian license plates were still entering Kosovo, but only after passing through the tightened controls.
During the joint news conference with Svecla, Kurti demanded the immediate release of the three police officers and lashed out at the NATO-led peacekeepers for not condemning the incident, saying he was surprised by KFOR's "silence."
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on June 15 said that Kosovo and Serbia must both take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions, including the unconditional release of three Kosovo police officers detained by Serbia.
The incident comes amid rising tensions in the region following an attack two weeks ago on KFOR forces and the Kosovar police in Zvecan.
The attack occurred amid clashes between international peacekeepers and Serbs after three ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election that Serbs boycotted.
The ethnic Albanian mayors were installed with the help of Kosovar police in three towns with overwhelming ethnic Serb majority -- Zvecan, Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok -- following by-elections in April with a turnout of under 3.5 percent amid the Serbian boycott.
Kurti, who has been under pressure from key Western supporters of Kosovo’s independence, on June 13 presented a five-point plan -- including fresh elections -- that he said would contribute to calming tensions in northern Kosovo.
Holding new elections is a request of the international community, which condemned the decision of the Kosovo authorities to forcibly take over municipal buildings in the north.
The United States and European Union have called on Kurti to withdraw the mayors, remove special police used to install them, and uphold a 2013 deal for an association of autonomous ethnic Serb municipalities in the region.
Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, a former part of Serbia, declared independence in 2008, a decade after the two sides fought a 1998-1999 war that ended with a 78-day bombing campaign of Serbia by NATO.
Serbia and its traditional ally Russia have not recognized Kosovo's independence.