Imer Mushkolaj

The story went viral quickly and was republished by almost countless news portals, media and social media pages, so that now it is still impossible to determine which media initiated the report.

Ahead of the expected resumption of the stalled dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Kosovo leader Albin Kurti is coming under domestic pressure to get the United States involved in the European Union-facilitated process.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has been criticised for again meeting  a controversial figure and power-broker in the Serb-run northern municipalities, Milan Radoicic.

The head of the Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party, Lista Srpska, Goran Rakic and Radoicic - who was recently elected as the deputy head - met Haradinaj at his office on Thursday.

Analysts in Pristina told BIRN on Monday that Albania and Kosovo should take serious steps towards practical cooperation instead of the idea of a having a joint president, which was suggested by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama during a speech to Kosovo MPs the previous day.

Despite the visit to Montenegro of Kosovo's new Foreign Minister, Behgjet Pacolli, on Tuesday, the deadlock between the two countries over their border demarcation agreement - which Kosovo MPs still have not ratified - remains unresolved.

The coalition of three parties - the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, is being predicted to win the most votes in Sunday's elections, but not enough to establish an administration.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels said a meeting between Kosovo's President and Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci and Isa Mustafa, and their Serbian counterparts, Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic, failed to achieve anything.

"The meeting went terribly wrong and had no results," an anonymous diplomatic source told Deutsche Welle.

Kosovo analysts are divided on whether mulled snap elections can help Kosovo resolve key challenges, such as border demarcation with Montenegro, visa liberalization with the EU and establishing an Association of Serb majority municipalities, which is part of the country's EU integration process.

The Office of President Atifete Jahjaga of Kosovo told BIRN on Wednesday that she will launch individual meetings with party leaders in a new bid to solve the country's political deadlock after Monday's group meeting ended without a breakthrough.

The ruling that parts of the Brussels-brokered agreements with Serbia were unconstitutional swelled the ranks of opposition protesters who caused unrest on the streets of Pristina on Saturday, experts suggested.