Serbia said Monday it was planning to restore flights between Belgrade and Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, in a move that could ease tensions between the former foes. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian insurgents fought Serbian forces in 1998-1999, when the flights were suspended. Ever since people have travelled the 350 kilometre (217 miles) distance between the two cities by car or bus.
"Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic will head this working group tasked with working on the normalisation of air transport ... including re-establishing of Belgrade-Pristina line," a ministry statement said. Serbia's refuses to recognise the independence of its former southern province, unilaterally proclaimed in 2008. Three years later the two sides opened a dialogue aimed at normalising relations. But in recent weeks ties between the Balkan neighbours have reached their lowest level since the talks started. A train sent by Belgrade to Kosovo last month, painted in the Serbian flag's colours and saying "Kosovo is Serbia" in multiple languages, made matters worse.
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