Balkans

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Once a laggard among former Soviet allies in joining the European Union and NATO, Romania hopes the military alliance’s summit in Bucharest this week will earn the Black Sea state a bigger role in southeastern Europe.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia has proposed a plan for the “functional division of Serbs and Kosovo Albanians” in Kosovo, Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic was quoted on Saturday as saying.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia’s neighbors in Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria dealt a blow to the Serb campaign to overturn Kosovo’s month-old independence on Wednesday by announcing they would recognize the new republic.

MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) – U.N. police in Kosovo returned to the Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica on Wednesday with heavy NATO support, having pulled out two days ago after deadly riots by Serbs opposed to secession.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Serbia appealed to nations on Wednesday not to recognize the month-old republic of Kosovo, saying the breakaway state was part of its territory.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will formally recognize the breakaway ethnic republic of Kosovo later on Tuesday and the Serb ambassador will return temporarily to Belgrade for consultations, the Serb embassy in Ottawa said.

MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) – A Ukrainian police officer serving with the United Nations in Kosovo died of injuries sustained in violent clashes with Serbs on Monday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said, confirming earlier reports.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan recognized Kosovo’s independence on Tuesday, a month after the majority Albanian region declared secession from Serbia with the backing of the United States and most European Union states.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia and its ally Russia are consulting on joint steps to stop “all forms of violence against Kosovo Serbs”, Serbia’s caretaker prime minister Vojislav Kostunica said in a statement on Monday.

PRISTINA (Reuters) – NATO troops came under automatic weapons fire during Serb riots in the northern Kosovo flashpoint town of Mitrovica on Monday, a French NATO spokesman told Reuters.