(Pristina) General Angelo Michele Ristuccia, head of NATO’s peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, KFOR, on Monday urged Pristina and Belgrade to start talks and stop their “useless rhetoric”.
“I again urge both sides to avoid unnecessary rhetoric and meet this challenge by returning to the negotiating table, which is the only way to resolve the situation,” he told reporters at the headquarters of the KFOR in Pristina.
“Both sides must ease tensions and seek a solution through strictly political and diplomatic means,” General Ristuccia stressed.
The European Union on Monday called on the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to come to Brussels “unconditionally” to participate in talks aimed at easing tensions in northern Kosovo.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has so far received no response to the invitation extended to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, his spokesman Peter Stano.
Tensions flared following the detention of three Kosovar police officers by Serbia.
The detention of the Kosovo police officers is the latest episode in weeks of tension between the two sides following disputed elections in Serb-majority northern Kosovo.
At the end of May, 30 Kfor soldiers were injured during riots organized by ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have persisted since the deadly war between Serbian forces and Albanian separatist rebels that led to the NATO intervention against Belgrade.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade refused to recognize it.
Kosovo Serbs remain largely loyal to Belgrade, particularly in the north, where they are in the majority and reject any steps taken by Pristina to consolidate its control over the region.
Serbia regards Kosovo as its spiritual and historical homeland, the scene of crucial battles over the centuries. Kosovo is home to some of the most revered monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church.