Balkans

BAKU – Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has asked parliament to vote to withdraw the ex-Soviet country’s peacekeepers from Kosovo, an Azeri official said on Thursday.

PRISTINA – Kosovo told Serbia on Tuesday it would not yield one inch of its territory, and a violent protest by ethnic Serbs in Bosnia against Kosovo’s secession highlighted continued volatility in the Balkan region.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia – Hundreds of protesters tried to attack the United States consulate in Bosnia’s Serb Republic on Tuesday, smashing shops in the city centre after they were pushed away by riot police.

BELGRADE – Serbia should stop servicing Kosovo’s foreign debt now the territory has declared independence, and instead spend the money on Serbian communities there, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said on Tuesday.

UFA, Russia – A deal to bring Serbia into Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline project was a show of support for Belgrade over Kosovo, Dmitry Medvedev, the man likely to be elected Russia’s new president, said on Tuesday.

BELGRADE – Serbia intends to rule parts of Kosovo where “loyal citizens” still look to Belgrade for government, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Monday.

BELGRADE – Russia’s likely next president, Dmitry Medvedev, told Serbian leaders on Monday there would be no shift in his country’s support for Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo.

Pieter Feith confirmed on Saturday his mission had moved its staff from the Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica. An international official told Reuters on Friday the small EU team had been relocated a week ago due to security concerns.

Mobs stormed the U.S. embassy on Thursday and set it on fire and other diplomatic missions were stoned after a mostly peaceful mass protests against the former Serbian province’s declaration of independence.

BELGRADE – The European Union told Serbia on Friday to protect embassies after attacks over Western support for Kosovo’s secession, and suggested such violence could harm its prospects of closer ties with the bloc.