Vucic had called for troops to be stationed in Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, to address tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in northern Kosovo.
Tensions arose after the arrest of a former police officer of Serbian origin on charges of instigating attacks against Electoral Commission officials. The Serbs then erected barricades at a dozen points in the region and blocked access roads to two border crossings with Serbia.
Renew tensions
There was renewed tension this weekend, this time in southern Kosovo, after an off-duty Kosovan security force soldier fired on Serb civilians near the town of Strpce. A man and an 11-year-old boy were injured. The man is in jail on charges of attempted murder.
Not surprisingly, the rejection of the Serbian request by the 3,800-strong NATO peacekeeping force, which has been operating in Kosovo under a UN mandate since 1999.