Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after talks with Kosovo Serbs in the Serbian town of Raska late Wednesday that the removal of the barricades in north Kosovo will start on Thursday morning, but that “the distrust is not removed.”

He said the talks were “anything but easy.”

“People asked that there be no cameras, so they could speak their minds, express their fears, they talked about everything,” said Vucic, adding that the general opinion is that “today was a good day for our people.”

“Nothing bad happened to any Serb today. We got papers that mean something to us in a formal and legal sense, we will be able to talk about law and justice, other people’s promises,” he said.

The President read the conclusions of the people at the barricades listing the things they demand in general, but also from him as the president, and from the state. He explained that they want his support for everything that is to follow because they say they “have no faith at all in (Kosovo Prime Minister Albin) Kurti.”

“If the arrests continue, they (Kosovo Serbs) will close the north of Kosovo forever, they will set up barricades that will never be removed and that will be a border for Pristina that they will never cross. They are asking for a promise that there will never be recognition of Kosovo and that Kosovo remains the territory of Serbia. I asked them to respect what I came for, to ask them to start removing the barricades and give a chance to talks, peace and trust,” Vucic said.

He added that they have to „trust those people that they will honour what they said and prevent such behaviour by the Kurti regime.“

“If that doesn’t happen, all I can say is that, whatever you decided, I may or may not agree with it, but your state will stand by you. As far as I am concerned, if they start arresting Serbs because of the barricades, anything you do after that, you will have the support of the state of Serbia and my personal support,” said the Serbian President.

Head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic said Wednesday that Serbia received guarantees from the US and European Union (EU) that the demands of Serb protesters in the province would be met and that Kosovo Serbs would not be arrested for setting up the barricades in north Kosovo.

State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel and Spokesperson of the EU High Representative, Nabila Massrali issued a joint statement Wednesday calling on all sides to show maximum restraint.

“We welcome the assurances of the leadership of Kosovo confirming that no lists of Kosovo Serb citizens to be arrested or prosecuted for peaceful protests/barricades exist,” the joint statement said.