Fifteen years after Kosovo declared independence, 50,000 minority Serbs in the north bordering Serbia refuse to recognise state institutions, get pay and benefits from Serbia's budget and pay no taxes either to Pristina or Belgrade.
Tensions rose further recently as Serbs left all state bodies in the region including the judiciary and law enforcement and as state authorities stepped up a crackdown on cross-border smuggling, began building a border police base and acted to have Serbs switch their car registrations from Serbia to Kosovo.
