Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Xhelal Svecla announced on January 15 the closure of Serbian municipal offices and parallel institutions operating within the country, a move which heightened tensions between Belgrade and Pristina ahead of the February 9 general election in Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia has refused to recognise it as a separate state. The existence of Serbian parallel institutions within Kosovo has long been a point of contention, symbolising Serbia’s continued refusal to cede influence over the region.

As well as the municipal offices and other institutions, post offices and tax offices operating under the Serbian system have been shut down. The Kosovo police conducted operations across dozens of locations to dismantle these structures.

Key locations affected include

"As we have pledged, we will not allow any parallelism, let alone criminal ones, of Serbia to violate the Constitution and the rule of law in our country," Svecla said in a Facebook post.

He said that the closures marked a definitive end to Serbia’s influence within Kosovo’s borders.

Kosovo’s Minister of Local Government Administration Elbert Krasniqi confirmed the closure of 28 parallel municipalities and five associated districts.

"These parallel criminal institutions of Serbia have no place in the Republic of Kosovo," he stated.

The operation extended to Serbian post offices, with Post Office director Ivan Milojevic reporting closures in several locations in the south of Kosovo, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported. He expressed scepticism about claims that the closures were temporary.

"The police came today to close the Post Office. They say it’s temporary until we apply for a licence, but I don’t see what’s temporary about it," he was cited as saying.

Similar closures occurred last year in Peja, Istog, Klina, Skenderaj and northern municipalities, populated mainly by Kosovo Serbs. Other institutions, such as branches of the Serbian Post and the National Bank of Serbia, were also targeted.

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and Belgrade’s chief negotiator in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Petar Petkovic, left talks in Brussels on January 15 following the closures, as RTS reported. The discussions were part of the Joint Commission for Missing Persons, aiming to implement dialogue agreements.

Belgrade condemned the closures as acts of "unprecedented terror and institutional violence". Sources from Serbia’s delegation claimed the developments undermined the dialogue process and agreements on missing persons.