Berlin’s stance on change of borders in the Balkans would look differently, if Washington would support an idea of Serbian President Vucic on delineation, analyst Dejan Vuk Stankovic told Tanjug news agency.

At the same time, he assessed that the statement of German Chancellor Merkel is not a principled stance against delineation, since Germany by recognizing Kosovo, has already delineated it from Serbia.

The leader of Srpska Lista, Goran Rakic has expressed support on Tuesday for the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s efforts to resolve the Kosovo issue and called the opposition to end its “witch hunt” against the head of state.

Rakic told a news conference in Mitrovica North that the Serbian opposition should leave the Kosovo issue to those who enjoy support from the people. “The fate of the Kosovo Serbs will be decided by the people who won 90 percent support at the latest elections.”

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying she was "against any changes of borders in the Balkans."

"All there is to be done is for the majority of the European Union to convince its five members that haven't yet recognized Kosovo and Serbia, too, to recognize it within the existing borders. The sooner that is done, the better for the region," Thaci tweeted, Beta agency reported.

Serbia’s president abandoned his plan to forge a quick deal on repairing ties with Kosovo after German Chancellor Angel Merkel said there would be no redrawing of borders in the Balkans.

An exchange of territory between Kosovo and Serbia could provoke a chain reaction and cause instability across the Balkans, and the West needs to wake up to the potentially disastrous consequences.

Last year, the US Republican who has been accused of being “Putin’s favourite Congressman”, Dana Rohrabacher, sent a letter to the president of Serbia asking the Serbian leadership to consider exchanging territories with Kosovo.

Prominent Kosovo-based Serbian Orthodox priest Sava Janjic has come under intense criticism from the Belgrade authorities and pro-government media for opposing a territory swap between Serbia and Kosovo.

The abbot of the Decani monastery, Sava Janjic, has been facing daily criticism from Serbian officials and tabloids close to the government for his opposition to Belgrade’s idea of partitioning Kosovo as part of a deal with Pristina.

Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that "the whole western world, with exceptions, considers Kosovo as a whole, sovereign, and indivisible territory," Serbian media reports today.

This was the Serbian president's reaction to German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying a day earlier she was "against changing borders in the Balkans."

"She already did delimitation between us -  by separating the whole of Kosovo from Serbia," Vucic said, and the concept of "delimitation" with the Albanians that he has been advocating for recently.

The Pristina authorities urged the EU and US to intervene after Serbia arrested a German citizen of Kosovo origin on suspected war-related charges while travelling back from his summer holiday in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned the arrest of German citizen Ibrahim Matoshi as he crossed the Serbian border and demanded an end to what it called the “witch hunt by the Serbian authorities” against people of Kosovo origin.

By Perparim Isufi, Maja Zivanovic BIRN Pristina, Belgrade

Analysts say recent heated rhetoric about the possibility of border changes will affect the popularity of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci - but probably not enough to unseat them.

The recent intensive exchange of statements about border ‘corrections’ between Serbia and Kosovo will affect the popularity of both presidents, analysts believe.

Serbian authorities have banned recently officials employed in Kosovo institutions to enter Serbia, and the reason behind such a decision is “red list” where their names are, Serbian media reported referring to Pristina-based Gazeta Express.

Pristina chief negotiator in Brussels talks, Avni Arifi, who is also chief of the PM Haradinaj's Cabinet, said Kosovo would undertake reciprocal measures. Arifi added that Kosovo citizens are also banned to enter Serbia.