The US on Wednesday appealed for calm in the Balkans as Kosovo said it would release a police officer whose arrest has fuelled soaring tension with Serbia.
The intervention came as Russia sided with Serbia in the stand-off with Kosovo, whose claim to statehood in 2008 was not recognised by Belgrade or Moscow.
The former officer from Kosovo's Serb minority, Dejan Pantic, was arrested on December 10 for allegedly assaulting a Kosovan agent.
Ethnic Serbs set up roadblocks near the border and this was followed by a series of shooting incidents.
Kosovo on Wednesday closed a border crossing due to what it called illegal blockades, while Serbia said the “protests” were “democratic and peaceful”.
Serbia said this week that its armed forces were at their highest level of combat readiness.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the US and the EU said they were concerned by the “continued tense situation”.
The western powers called on Serbia and Kosovo to show “maximum restraint”, take steps to de-escalate and “refrain from provocations, threats or intimidation”.
“We also expect Kosovo and Serbia to return to fostering an environment conducive to reconciliation, regional stability and co-operation for the benefit of their citizens,” they said.
A spokeswoman for a court in Kosovo told Reuters that Mr Pantic would be moved from detention to house arrest.
His move to house arrest was requested by Kosovan prosecutors, the spokeswoman said.
Mr Pantic was one of many ethnic Serb police officers to hand in their police badges in a dispute over licence plates that helped ignite the latest tension.
Kosovo has meanwhile assured the US and the EU that it is not planning to round up ethnic Serbs involved in peaceful protests.
“At the same time, rule of law must be respected, and any form of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the western allies said.
A Nato peacekeeping force called for dialogue, while Germany separately described the Serb blockades as illegal and accused Belgrade of “nationalist rhetoric”.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin said Kosovo should work towards a form of self-governance for ethnic Serbs envisaged in a 2013 agreement.
Both Serbia and Kosovo aspire to EU membership, with Brussels taking a greater interest in the region following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Serbia has declined to impose sanctions on Russia over the war, while insisting it is not in Moscow's pocket.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that “we support Belgrade in all the actions that are being taken”.
“Serbia is a sovereign country and it is fundamentally wrong to look for some kind of destructive influence of Russia here,” he said.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
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Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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if you go
The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers