That culminated in the 1998-99 war, which was ultimately ended by a Nato bombing campaign. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after Serbian president Slobodan Milošević’s ethnic cleansing campaign against its majority Albanian population. “Once that had taken place, I think Kurti really didn’t have much of a choice but to enforce these mayors being seated in their city halls.” The US and its allies are singling out Kosovo when they had previously said elections were in line with the country’s laws, he added.

It was armed Serb groups,” said Toby Vogel, a regional policy analyst. “It was not Kosovo police or the government who injured dozens of Nato peacekeepers. To underline the message US ambassador Jeff Hovenier announced that Kosovo had been axed from a joint military training exercise and that bilateral relations had been damaged.īut analysts are surprised at this reaction. Washington rebuked Kurti for ordering mayors into their offices, and called for de-escalation. The violence alarmed the US, Kosovo’s most important international ally.

The Z symbol now synonymous with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was also daubed across vehicles. They were met by demonstrators who included masked men with guns and explosives. On Monday, Nato peacekeepers, concerned that clashes could escalate, sent troops to the town halls. Izmir Zeqiri, one of the mayors at the centre of the recent violence.

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