The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Friday that the Serbian army has left the border with Kosovo, after it “came to provoke us” on Thursday.

“It is not normal for those military vehicles to arrive just a few meters away from the border. I am satisfied that they are not present today, they were not until 16.00”, said Kurti speaking at a press conference in Pristina.

He said that the Kosovar authorities registered their movement along the Kosovar border, but “we did nothing”.

“We were careful, we were watching to see if they would cross the border, but they didn’t cross the border,” he added.

Kurti said for the first time on Thursday shortly before midnight that the Serbian army was seen moving a few meters away from the border with Kosovo, describing them as “deliberate provocations”.

Earlier on Friday, the Ministry of Defense of Serbia rejected Kurti’s statements, calling them “disinformation campaigns for the Serbian army”.

The Ministry said that the Serbian army forces “are carrying out their duties in the safe administrative zone, in accordance with all the signed agreements”.

Earlier in the day, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, James O’Brien, said that the United States is monitoring the movements of the Serbian army near the border with Kosovo and that it has informed Serbia that the use of force will be unacceptable.

“In Serbia, President Vučić knows very well that any use of force against Kosovo would be unacceptable, it would be considered endangering NATO forces, which are there to protect the population, Albanians and Serbs. He has said that there will be no use of force,” said O’Brien.

Meanwhile, NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, told for Radio Free Europe on Friday that the security situation in Kosovo is “calm but fragile,” and called on Kosovo and Serbia to refrain from escalating rhetoric and separator