Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Vice President Marko Đurić says that the upcoming local elections in Kosovo are of national importance, and that the state of Serbia supports only the Serbian List in the elections, reports Serbian media.

The 120-seat Kosovo Assembly on Sunday elected Ramush Haradinaj, the PDK-led coalition candidate, as new head of the Kosovo government.

61 voted in favor, while one member of the Assembly abstained.

After the session, members of the Self-Determination and the coalition gathered around the LDK left the session and did not attend the taking of the oath of office of Haradinaj and the members of his government.

Kosovo police have prevented Education Minister Mladen Sarcevic and Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Marko Djuric from entering Kosovo.

They were stopped on Monday at Jarinje - an administrative crossing between Kosovo and central Serbia.

Tanjug is reporting that Sarcevic and Djuric were on their way to Kosovska Mitorivca, where they were to open a student health-care institution at the Student Center.

Sources from KosovaPress informed that Director of the Office for Kosovo at the Serbian government, Marko Djuric and Serbia’s Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Mladen Sarcevic, were stopped from entering Kosovo territory. The same source informed that Djuric and Sarcevic were blocked at Jarinje border crossing by Kosovo security bodies.

It is not known if the Serbian officials will try to enter Kosovo illegally, reports KosovaPress

On the occasion of the International Day of Missing Persons, gatherings would be organized in Gracanica and Pristina today.

As it was announced, gathering in Gracanica would start at 11.00, while in Pristina this day would be marked by laying flowers at the monument dedicated to the missing persons nearby the Kosovo Assembly.

The arrest of people on the basis of some secret lists is just an excuse for continuing the policy of ethnic cleansing of the Serb people from Kosovo, says Marko Đurić, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, reacting on today's arrest of IDP near Suharekë/Suva Reka.

"Today, police in Mušutište, near Suva Reka, became an open instrument in the chauvinist policy of preventing the return of displaced Serbs," Đurić said, reports RTS.

The Serbian Government Office for Kosovo Director, Marko Djuric said to the Kosovo Dialogue Minister Edita Tahiri “to stop the mantra on the necessity of Serbia to recognize unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija, as it will never happen,” TV Most reported.

Djuric further said “it is an absurd that Mrs. Tahiri, who is known as one of the most extreme and the hardest among the politicians in Pristina, stigmatize anyone as a chauvinist, and if there is a state in the region whose political discourse is not based on chauvinistic ideas, then it is Serbia.”

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Đurić recalled in a written statement to the press that 19 years ago, journalists Đuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenić disappeared near Orahovac/Rahovec, and the families still do not have any information about their fate, which is ''a big stain'' of those who take care of the establishment of the rule of law in Kosovo.

“Internal dialogue could significantly strengthen the negotiation position of Serbia and is important for the future generations too, therefore it is needed to achieve the widest social cohesion and jointly respond to the challenges we face,” stated to Blic, Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric.

Commenting on “Cyprus model” proposed by Oliver Ivanovic as a possible solution of the Kosovo issue, Djuric said it is not a good model for Serbia.

The Director for Kosovo at the Serbian Government, Marko Djuric, told Serbian media that official Pristina does not want membership at UNESCO or INTERPOL for cultural heritage or war against crime, but due to the fact that they are part of the process of strengthening their independence.

He said that INTERPOL General Committee has received Kosovo’s request for membership however he added, the one that decides to fight for a rightful cause always finds space to maneuver therefore engagement is unquestionable.