Kosovo Closes Five Parallel Serbian Municipalities in North

The Kosovo government has shut down five parallel Serbian municipalities in the north of the country, an area predominantly inhabited by Serbs. Kosovo’s Minister of Local Self-Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, stated that these municipalities operated under the direction of Serbia, violating Kosovo’s constitution and laws. The closed municipalities include the Kosovo Mitrovica district and the parallel municipalities of Mitrovica, Zvečan, Zubin Potok, and Leposavić. Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević has called for immediate and strong action from the international community, asserting Serbia’s commitment to peace and stability in the region while vowing to not tolerate violence against its people. The director of the Office for Kosovo in Serbia, Petar Petković, warned that the closure of Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo will have significant repercussions for normalizing relations between Belgrade and Prishtina.