Belgrade bans visit by Kosovo Foreign Minister Gervala

STRINGER / AFP

The Serbian state TV (RTS) said on Wednesday that Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Gervala was denied permission to visit southern Serbia.

It quoted Albanian-language media in Pristina which said that Gervala cancelled her visit to the area of Serbia bordering Kosovo which has a large ethnic Albanian population. The reports were confirmed by the Kosovo Foreign Ministry which told the media that permission was requested. “The visit was canceled because of Belgrade’s unfair game and we will try to realize the visit at some other time,” it said.

Official Belgrade’s decision not to allow the visit seems to be a tit-for-tat move following Pristina’s decisions not to allow visits by officials from Belgrade on a number of occasions, the most recent of them a ban on a visit by Serbian government Office for Kosovo chief Petar Petkovic.