Serbia has formally asked NATO if it can deploy up to 1,000 troops into northern Kosovo, where Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says ethnic Serbs are being “terrorized” by the Kosovo government based in Pristina.
Vucic made the request to the commander of NATO forces in Kosovo, known as KFOR. Serbian officials say that a UN resolution that formally ended the Kosovo war allows for the deployment of up to 1,000 Serbian troops into Kosovo, but Vucic still doesn’t expect the request to be granted.
“The request says that a certain number of (Serbian troops), from one hundred to up to 1,000, return to Kosovo,” he said.
Tensions have been high in northern Kosovo since the summer when Pristina tried to implement a policy that would require ethnic Serbs to acquire license plates issued by Kosovo. Serbs in the area don’t recognize the government in Pristina and still use Belgrade-issued documents to cross the border.
Serbia and Kosovo failed to reach a deal in talks back in November, as Pristina wants any agreement to involve recognition from Belgrade. According to RT, Serbs have barricaded border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo to protest the deployment of ethnic Albanian police in the area.
Serbia wants to deploy troops to secure the border crossings and says NATO forces cannot protect the Kosovo Serbs from ethnic Albanians. KFOR previously threatened to intervene if “stability is jeopardized” in northern Kosovo when tensions were high over the summer and would likely take action if Serbia went ahead with the troop deployment.
KFOR has been present in the breakaway former Serbian province of Kosovo since the US and NATO 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia. Kosovo formally declared its independence in 2008, but it’s not recognized by enough countries to have a seat at the UN. Currently, there are about 3,700 NATO troops deployed under the KFOR mission, including over 600 US troops.
The mere fact that the situation re Kosovo (all you folks in Camp Bondsteel smile and wave now, ya’ll hear?) does not push itself into Uncle Sam’s face makes me realize that irony is just another one of the many attributes that are dead as the proverbial door nail in the land of Uncle Sam.
Look how peaceful and prosperous Kosovo is after NATO’s war /s
Yeah, and NATO still has “peacekeepers” there.
What a joke, KFOR will not intervene once Prishtina got what it wanted. It woukd shock me if Vucic actually intends to do anything or is just playing for time. Hopefully, populace will getvtired of the issue the more it drags on. So far it worked for every single concession Serbia gave. The truth is — Serbian business elite canot survive without European marketd, and they lean on weak politicians to gradually give away evertmything. Mitrovica was the last stand. It is over.
Kosovo is ethnically Albanian.It was like Kashmir of 2020 under post Tito Yougslavia. Both Kosovar and Serbians positioned themselves as far as possible from each other. It became emotive and existential issues . That combinatiin doesnt lend itself to solution. Its natural development that people with most to gain ,will step into gambit of offerring solutiins. Both sides end up attracting corrupt disgraceful charecters. Thats what the entire area has turned into . Serbia depends on EU. Kosovo depends on USA . Kosovo promises to do anything for USA to survive .Thats a huge moral sacrifice . Only those with no scruples will agree . Only those who senses how desperate US is in using iKosovo to hurt other countries will understand the potential of corruptions from the kinetics of US and NATO and use it most aggressively going beyond the perimeters established by the US.
Serbian elite ,like US or UK is feathering its nest offerring tokenism of Serbian nationalism. Serbia nationalism is itself a dangerous amalgamation of territoriality ,historical memory.and exclusiven ness , fanaticism and intolerance .
Wow! the hate is deep. Hey you live in Kosovo so what get a Kosovo plate and get on with your life. The requirement that citizens of Kosovo have Kosovo plates on their cars doesn’t strike me as “oppression”.