Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on August 21 that minority Serbs working in Kosovo institutions will leave their jobs unless a deal is reached to end their "persecution."
Tension between Kosovo and Serbia resurfaced late last month when Pristina declared that Serbian identity documents and vehicle license plates would no longer be valid on Kosovo territory.
Serbs, who live mostly in northern Kosovo, reacted with fury, putting up roadblocks and firing their guns into the air and in the direction of Kosovo police officers. No one was injured.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti postponed the implementation of the measure for a month, to September 1, after apparent pressure from the West.
Talks sponsored by the European Union (EU) in Brussels earlier this week failed to overcome differences.
"Unless the persecution of Serbs is stopped, the politicians will leave all Kosovo institutions over the next month, and then judges and police officers will follow suit by the end of September," Vucic told a news conference called after he met with Serbs from the north of Kosovo, which borders Serbia.
Kurti and Vucic, who held talks in Brussels, agreed to resume discussions before September 1 to avoid further unrest, but Vucic said he was not optimistic. He said Kurti had rejected all "compromise solutions" that he proposed.
"I am in a very difficult situation," Vucic told reporters. He said Serbia will "work hard" to reach a "compromise solution in the next 10 days."
Vucic also criticized NATO for increasing its presence in the north part of Kosovo.
"It's not your job to watch if someone is crossing barricades but to protect Serbs from intrusions of the Kosovo police in the north," he said.
About 50,000 ethnic Serbs live in the north of Kosovo, but they do not recognize the country’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia and they maintain close ties to Belgrade.
Western-backed Kosovo is recognized by more than 100 countries, although not by Serbia, Russia, China, and others.