KOSOVO’S prime minister today said that border security would be tightened following what he described as Serbia’s role in the kidnapping of three police officers.

Albin Kurti also criticised Nato-led international peacekeepers for not providing an official explanation of what happened to the three border police officers.

Mr Kurti says they were “kidnapped inside Kosovo’s territory” while Belgrade says they were “arrested” in Serbian territory.

At a press conference, the PM showed maps of where the incident allegedly occurred, saying that Serbia’s special police and army units had entered deep into Kosovo.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic reiterated that the Kosovo police officers were arrested deep inside Serbia and asked what they were doing in Serbian territory armed with machine guns.

He said Serbia acted like any “serious country” and called Kosovo “a quasi-state.” The statelet, which declared independence from Serbia after Nato’s 1999 war to break up Yugoslavia, is not recognised by the Serbian government.

After a meeting of Kosovo’s top security council, Mr Kurti said border checks would increase and traffic from Serbia would be limited, but he added they were not “commercial steps,” suggesting goods would continue to move freely across the border.

Last week, Mr Kurti alleged bias against his country from the United States and the European Union and tolerance of what he called Serbia’s authoritarian regime. The EU and US have accused Kosovo of inciting unrest among the Serb majority in North Kosovo by imposing ethnic Albanian officials elected by just 4 per cent of the local population in an almost universally boycotted election.

A Kosovo official in Belgrade has requested to visit the three officers.

Mr Kurti also contacted US officials and asked them to press Serbia to release the police officers.