Washington’s envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said that the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have the “potential to turn into a regional conflict”.

He made these statements in a debate held by the Atlantic Council in Washington, together with the EU envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak.

Meanwhile, Lajçak said that the first priority is to escalate the situation, “to remove people from the street and return to dialogue”.

“If we fail to escalate the situation, we will have victims”, he said.

As for the three Kosovo policemen who are in custody in Serbia, Escobar said that even if they were kidnapped or entered the Serbian territory by mistake, they should be released immediately.

Lajçak also supported this position.

Lajçak said that the crisis management meeting in Brussels will be held, despite the statements of the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia.

“If it was rejected, there would be serious and negative consequences”, he said, adding that the meeting, which according to him will be held very soon, will focus only on the management of the current crisis.