Kosovar leader Albin Kurti stated on Tuesday he decided to postpone fines for car plates with the Serbian identifier for the disputed region at Washington's request.
"I thank [US] Ambassador [to Kosovo Jeffrey] Hovenier for his commitment and engagement. I accept his request for a 48-hour postponement on imposition of fines for illegal ‘KM’ (and other) car plates. I am happy to work with the US and the EU to find a solution during the next two days," Kurti tweeted.
Signs at the Jarinje checkpoint on the administrative line between Central Serbia and Kosovo.
© Sputnik / Gavro Dešić
Tensions between Serbia and the self-proclaimed Kosovo flared up over the summer, when the Kosovar authorities required that local Serbs re-register their cars' license plates. They demanded that the car plates feature the EU-standard letter code of RKS ('Republic of Kosovo') instead of KM, the Serbian identifier for the disputed region of Kosovska Mitrovica, which provoked a major crisis.
The deadline for the re-registration was October 31. Issuing fines for Serbian plates was supposed to start on November 21, then was postponed to the morning of November 22 during negotiations in Brussels.