Serbs in northern Kosovo to start removing barricades from Thursday

Kosovo Serbs who have been blocking roads in northern Kosovo for 19 days have agreed to start removing barricades from Thursday morning, bowing to calls by the United States and European Union to defuse tensions, Qazet.az reports.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic who met Serbs from northern Kosovo in the Serbian town of Raska said the process of removing barricades will begin on Thursday morning.

"It is a long process and it will take a while," Vucic said.

He also added that the United States and European Union, which are mediating talks between Belgrade and Pristina to resolve outstanding bilateral issues, have guaranteed that none of the Serbs who set up barricades will be prosecuted.

Removal of the barricades is expected to defuse tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

For more than 20 years, Kosovo has been a source of tension between the West, which backed its independence, and Russia, which supports Serbia in its efforts to block Kosovo's membership of global organisations including the United Nations.