Kosovo PM cancels US trip for Serbia talks as President Thaci and 9 others indicted on war crime charges

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has canceled his trip to Washington, where Kosovo and Serbian leaders had planned to meet for talks at the White House.

Hoti announced on Thursday that the trip would not go ahead, after the president of Serbia’s breakaway province, Hashim Thaci, and nine other former separatist fighters were indicted on a range of crimes against humanity and war crime charges, AP reports.

Hoti informed US envoy Richard Grenell of his canceled trip, a decision that is likely to torpedo the talks. Thaci learned of his indictment on Wednesday. A pretrial judge at The Hague-based court is studying the indictment and could still reject it.

The meeting on Saturday was to be the first talks between Belgrade and Pristina in 19 months. Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence in 2008, a move Serbia has not recognized.