Pristina has banned Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic from entering Kosovo due to her offensive statement on Kosovan people, Kosovan Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli said on May 30.

Pacolli was reacting to Brnabic's statement a day earlier, when she said that Kosovan Albanians are people “who came out of the mountain.

“So long as I’m FM of #Kosovo I will not allow the @SerbianPM Brnabic to enter #Kosovo while she maintains a racist and sick ideology against the people of #Kosovo," Pacolli wrote on Twitter. 

“Disgusting and utterly unacceptable the comment of the Serbian @SerbianPM Ana Brnanic in the presence of the Head of #EU Delegation in #Serbia @FabriziSem on #Kosovo. This institutionalized racism in Serbia that has the feeds in the sick ultranationalist ideology…

"this @SerbianPM Government promotes. I hope #Europe understand with what kind of people we have to do, the ones who supported mass killings and deny war crimes committed by Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia,” Pacolli continued in a series of tweets on the microblogging site.

As Brnabic made the comment in the presence of the EU ambassador in Serbia Sem Fabrizi, Kosovan President Hashim Thaci urged the EU to punish her and to distance itself from the "racist" language of Serbian officials who, according to him, incite hatred and undermine efforts for reconciliation, Kosovan broadcaster RTK reported.

Belgrade and Pristina are engaged in EU-mediated talks to normalise their relations, after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It is still not recognised as a separate country by Belgrade. However, the talks stalled after Kosovo imposed 100% tariffs for imports from Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina in November 2018, for political reasons.

On May 29, the European Commission urged both countries to conclude a legally binding agreement in order to advance on their European path.