NATO has deployed extra forces to Kosovo following clashes with Serb protesters in the region.
Serb protesters in Zvecan threw tear gas and stun grenades at NATO soldiers on Monday, leaving 30 troops and 52 Serbs hurt, and prompting EU and military alliance officials to call for calm.
The ongoing violence saw Serb protesters smash two cars belonging to Albanian journalists in Kosovo’s Leposavic town on Tuesday.
In a statement on Tuesday, NATO said: “In response to recent unrest and the injury of 30 members of NATO’s Kosovo Force, NATO has directed the deployment of the Operational Reserve Forces (ORF) for the Western Balkans.”
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after April elections the Serbs boycotted.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has urged Kosovo and Serbian leaders to find a way to de-escalate tensions through dialogue.
“We have too much violence already in Europe today, we cannot afford another conflict,” Mr Borrell told a news briefing in Brussels.
Northern Kosovo’s majority Serbs have never accepted Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, and consider Belgrade their capital more than two decades after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against repressive Serbian rule.
Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90 per cent of the population in Kosovo as a whole, but northern Serbs have long demanded the implementation of an EU-brokered 2013 deal for the creation of an association of autonomous municipalities in their area.
Serbs refused to take part in local elections in April and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities with a 3.5 per cent turnout.
Russia, which has long had close ties with Serbia and shares its Slavic and Orthodox Christian traditions, called on Tuesday for “decisive steps” to quell the unrest in Kosovo.
The Russian foreign ministry urged “the West to finally silence its false propaganda and stop blaming incidents in Kosovo on Serbs driven to despair, who are peaceful, unarmed, trying to defend their legitimate rights and freedoms.”
Moscow helped block Kosovo’s bid for UN membership at Belgrade’s request.
Kosovo authorities have blamed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for destabilising Kosovo. Vucic blames Kosovo authorities for causing problems by installing new mayors.
In a statement after meeting ambassadors of the so-called Quint group - the United States, Italy, France, Germany and Britain - in Belgrade, Mr Vucic said he had asked that Albanian mayors are removed from their offices in the north.
“Violent acts against citizens, against media, against law enforcement and KFOR troops are absolutely unacceptable,” the EU’s Mr Borrell said of Monday’s violence.
“KFOR (NATO’s Kosovo force) will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all communities in Kosovo, in accordance with its mandate,” the NATO force said in a statement.
