PRISTINA, Feb 19: Nato peacekeepers intervened to break up groups of angry Serbs who destroyed two Kosovo border crossings on Tuesday as international tensions grew over Kosovo’s independence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States that Kosovo’s break from Serbia was “dangerous” for the world but US President George W. Bush insisted the move would bring peace.

Kosovo lawmakers took the split further by passing their first legislation since making their independence declaration on Sunday, including creating Kosovo citizenship, passports and a foreign ministry.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana became the first top international figure to visit since it proclaimed independence.

The arson attack by hundreds of Serbs was the latest violence in reaction to the independence declaration which has since been formally recognised by the United States and the main European powers.

Serbia has vowed to fight the split by its former province and at least 1,000 Kosovo Serbs and 150 from Serbia ransacked and torched the Banja and Jarinje border crossing points before fleeing, a UN policeman said.

“We couldn’t do anything, we just moved away as there were only a few of us compared with the group of very angry Serbs,” a Kosovo Serb policeman at the scene said.

Kosovo Police Service spokesman Veton Elshani said there were no casualties in the attack. The UN mission in Kosovo and the Nato-lead peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) confirmed the incidents. A KFOR spokesman said troops intervened in what he called a “regrettable” situation.

In another incident that police could not confirm, a Serb media source said that a customs building had been set on fire by Serb protesters in the town of Zubin Potok.

There have been anti-independence riots in Belgrade with mobs stoning the US and European embassies. On Thursday a huge rally is planned in Belgrade by Serbia’s main political parties who all oppose Kosovo’s independence.

Russia has been Serbia’s main partner in opposing independence and Lavrov said he warned US Secretary of

State Condoleezza Rice over the implications of the break during telephone talks on Monday.

“We confirmed our principled position on the unacceptability of the unilateral action by Pristina,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The dangerous consequences were underlined of such a move, which is fraught with dangers for the foundations of world order and international stability formed over the course of decades,” the statement continued.

The United States has been an equally strong supporter of Kosovo’s independence and Bush on Tuesday called it a historic move but acknowledged there are differences with Russia.

“History will prove this to be a correct move, to bring peace to the Balkans. This strategy has been a long time coming,” Bush told reporters in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam.

“And now it is up to all of us to help the Kosovars to realise their peace,” he added.

The US president called on the Kosovars “to honour their commitment to support the right of non-Albanians, non-Kosovars inside their country.” He added: “We have been working very closely with the Russians as we have with the Europeans and other nations on Kosovo’s independence because we believe it’s the right thing to do.”

He added: “There is a disagreement (with Russia), but we believe as do many other nations that history will prove this to be a correct move.” Serbia has withdrawn its ambassadors to the United States and other countries that recognised Kosovo’s independence.—AFP