Rising ethnic tensions in Kosovo

Tensions have been ratcheting up in Kosovo in recent weeks. Ethnic Serbs in the country’s north have blockaded roads near the border with Serbia. And on the Serbian side of that border, a paramilitary group with ties to the Wagner group, Russian mercenaries with Kremlin ties, have been assembling. Last week, Serbia sent a formal request to NATO to allow 1,000 security personnel into the majority Serbian northern region. The trigger to all this might have been a new policy on license plates in Kosovo, but Ramadan Ilazi, head of research at the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies, says there are much deeper roots to these tensions.