New level of escalation in the Balkans: Serbia's President rails against the removal of Kosovo

Created: 2023-01-09 05:09

By: Patrick Mayer

Alert: Italian KFOR soldiers in the Kosovan town of Mitrovica.

© IMAGO/Predrag Milosavljevic

The NATO-led security force KFOR refuses to send Serbian soldiers to Kosovo.

There are violent protests from Belgrade.

Munich/Belgrade/Mitrovica - It is the next level of escalation in the Kosovo conflict: According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the KFOR protection force stationed in the small Balkan country refuses to allow up to 1000 Serbian soldiers in the (since 2008) independent invade Kosovo.

Kosovo conflict: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic complains about KFOR

Vucic announced this on Sunday on the pro-government private broadcaster Pink TV.

Vucic had requested the deployment of Serbian troops to the former Serbian province before the end of the year.

He accused the KFOR command of humiliating the Serbs with the negative answer.

The Kosovo Force is the multinational military force established in 1999 after the end of the Kosovo War under the direction of the transatlantic defense alliance NATO.

Tensions arose over the weekend, this time in southern Kosovo, which has a population of around 1.8 million.

Specifically: An off-duty soldier of the Kosovo Security Forces, the official armed forces of the Balkan state, shot at Serb civilians near the town of Strpce.

A 21-year-old young man and an 11-year-old boy were injured.

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Vucic had requested the deployment of Serbian soldiers after tensions arose around Christmas over the arrest of a Serbian ex-policeman.

Militant Serbians had set up roadblocks around Mitrovica and protested at them.

To this day, Serbia does not recognize Kosovo and has reaffirmed its claim to the region between Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and its own southwestern state border.

Kosovo: tensions between Kosovars of Albanian origin and the Serb minority

Kosovars of Albanian origin live mainly in Kosovo and a Serbian minority in the north.

The city of Mitrovica (60,000 inhabitants) is considered to be divided and is monitored in particular by Italian KFOR soldiers.

KFOR has around 3,800 soldiers in Kosovo, including 70 from the German armed forces.