Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti on June 13 presented a five-point plan that includes the prospect of fresh local elections in northern Kosovo and a reduction in the presence of special police to defuse tensions in the region.
Kurti's announcement at a news conference came as Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla announced the arrest of a suspect in an attack on KFOR members two weeks ago.
Svecla identified the man as Milun Milenkovic-Lune and said he was the main organizer of the attack on KFOR forces and the Kosovar police in Zvecan.
Milenkovic-Lune is one of the leaders of criminal groups "that have been terrorizing our citizens for years, attacking members of the Kosovo Police and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo," Svecla said.
Three Kosovar police officers were injured during the operation to arrest Milenkovic-Lune, he said.
Tensions flared earlier on June 13 when a group of Serbs gathered in North Mitrovica to protest the arrest. Kosovar police in riot gear were present, and soldiers with the KFOR peacekeeping force were also in the vicinity.
The Serbs dispersed after the additional forces of Kosovar police began to withdraw. According to RFE/RL journalists, this was requested by a member of the U.S. KFOR contingent.
Some 30 peacekeepers and 52 Serbs were injured in clashes two weeks ago after ethnic Albanian mayors took office following elections that local Serbs boycotted.
The ethnic Albanian mayors were installed with the help of Kosovar police in three towns with overwhelming ethnic Serbian majorities -- Zvecan, Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok -- following by-elections in April with a turnout of under 3.5 percent amid the Serbs' boycott.
Kurti, who has been under pressure from key Western supporters of Kosovo's independence, said the five-point plan would contribute to calming the tensions.
He said he met with the ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy to convey the proposal, which he had previously conveyed to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Kosovo will "coordinate with all the actors and announce early elections in four municipalities in the north," Kurti told a press conference after meeting with the five ambassadors, whose countries form the Quint group.
Holding new elections is a request of the international community, which condemned the decision of the Kosovar 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 Serbian municipalities in the region.
Kurti said that "violent (Serbian) groups have been withdrawn from Kosovo territory [and therefore] the presence of Kosovo police troops in three municipal buildings will be downsized."
He said he had presented his plan to EU and U.S. envoys and called for a follow-up meeting between Serbian and Kosovo officials in Brussels.
Officials in Serbia have demanded as part of EU- and U.S.-mediated talks over the past decade that Pristina fulfill the 2013 Brussels agreement to establish an association of Serbian municipalities to represent the Serb-majority communities.
Kurti said nothing during his press conference about setting up the association, which would ensure greater autonomy for the Serb-majority area. He has resisted implementing the deal to create the association, citing fears that it would spur the region to seek to rejoin Serbia.