You're reading: Reuters: Kosovo’s president says Serbia wants to annex part of Kosovo using ‘Crimea model’

Reuters: Kosovo’s president says Serbia wants to annex part of Kosovo using ‘Crimea model’

Published Jan. 17, 2017. Updated Jan. 17 at 10:52 am

A man passes a train bound for Kosovo at the main railway station in Belgrade on January 14, 2017. A train from Russia, decorated with the Serbian flag and artwork featuring Serbian churches, monasteries and medieval towns, plans to begin trips traveling from Belgrade to Kosovska Mitrovica, for the first time since the 1998-99 war.

Photo by AFP

Serbia plans to seize a slice of northern Kosovo just as Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, Kosovo’s president told Reuters on Jan. 16, as the two Balkan neighbors trade accusations of wanting to ignite a new regional war.

Kosovo special police units on Jan. 14 prevented a train painted in Serbia’s national colors and bearing the words “Kosovo is Serbia” from crossing the border.