High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union Federica Mogherini said she is encouraged by the constructive engagement of Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština in a new round of dialogue and added that this process is important for the region and EU.

Federica Mogherini, in a statement after the meeting, stated that the commitment and political will, make a significant contribution to reducing tensions and that the future work will be continued in the same spirit.

Ethnic tensions are rising in Kosovo, setting the stage for an early test of U.S.-Russian relations under President Donald Trump in a Balkan country where U.S. troops keep the peace decades after a NATO air campaign ended Serb rule over the Albanian population.

A 78-day U.S.-led bombing campaign in 1999 forced Serbia to give up control of Kosovo, which Serbs consider their historic homeland, after months of reprisal killings and forced dislocations by armed Serbs and ethnic Albanian rebels.

The bomb hunters of Kosovo roam the country on foot, searching for explosives that dot the landscape 17 years after the Kosovo War. The slightest disturbance can cause an explosion, making the work so risky that the men and women who do it insisted that Emanuele Amighetti wear body armor and helmet just to photograph them.

The first victim of Trmp-induced instability might not be Ukraine, or the Baltics - but tiny Kosovo.

Ferizaj, Kosovo - Armend Miftari's love for the United States is unwavering, even in the wake of Donald Trump.

Serbian Minister of Labour, Aleksandar Vulin, has not been permitted to enter Kosovo, confirmed for the news website the advisor to Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj, Bashmir Xhemaj. Vulin was scheduled to visit Kosovo today.

The second round of the high level discussions between Kosovo and Serbia will be held on Wednesday.

Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Valon Murtezaj, director of the Ministry of Culture department for cultural heritage Vjollca Aliu and the director of the non-governmental organisation Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) Sali Shoshi discussed in a meeting in Pristina the process of Kosovo’s membership in UNESCO.

The leading British commentator on international affairs in general and Russia in particular, and former Moscow correspondent for The Times,  Mary Dejevsky, told Radio Free Europe in Albanian that a solution between the West and Russia could be reached through an eventual agreement for “recognition of Russian authority over Crimea as an exchange for Russia’s recognition of Kosovo.”

During the press conference on additional measures for managing migration along the Central Mediterranean route, ahead of the Malta Summit, the EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini, answered also on the questions how she sees the follow-up of Tuesday’s talks between Pristina and Belgrade, if there are some concrete plans for follow-up and why did she issue an additional statement the next morning regretting that not everybody respected the spirit of the agreement to refrain from comments and leave the tensions behind.

During a visit to Lisbon, President of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic, said he hoped Portugal would change its position regarding Kosovo’s membership bid for UNESCO. “I spoke about this to the Portuguese culture minister and we can expect a change in their position because we see no reason for the Serb cultural heritage to move under Kosovo’s administration and protection,” Nikolic said.