President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, called on Kosovo not to organize new elections for mayors of municipalities in the north of the country, until greater autonomy is achieved for the ethnic Serbs, who make up the local majority and who boycotted the preliminary elections.

“All Serbs in the north think of Serbia as their country, not Kosovo. This is the reality”, Vucic said in an interview for Reuters on June 9.

He said that “someone should take the situation under control and organize (new) elections there”.

Last week, violence erupted in northern Kosovo after ethnic Albanian mayors moved into municipal facilities in the majority-Serb municipality following local elections held in April, in which turnout was just 3.5%, writes REL.

In response to the unrest, in which Serbian protesters clashed with NATO peacekeepers, leaving dozens injured on both sides, Serbia put its armed forces on the highest combat alert. Meanwhile, NATO sent reinforcements to its mission in Kosovo.