‘We can’t be blackmailed’: Kosovo PM not giving in against Serbia

PRISTINA: With pressure mounting from US and European allies to strike a deal with arch-rival Serbia, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti vowed on Wednesday to resist any attempt at “blackmail” in the face of a looming deadline from the West to reach an agreement.For months, Western envoys have been shuttling between the Serbian and Kosovo capitals in a fresh diplomatic thrust to resolve long-simmering tensions nearly 25 years after the war between ethnic Albanian insurgents and Serb forces triggered a NATO bombing campaign that ended the fighting.But more than two decades on, Belgrade still refuses to recognise its former Albanian-majority province's government, and with the backing of powerful ally Russia has prevented the territory from entering an array of international institutions, including the United Nations.With war in Ukraine unleashing new uncertainty in Europe, the US and EU appear determined to iron out an arrangement between Kosovo and Serbia to end years of crisis in the