NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the significance of increasing troops for the alliance’s peacekeeping mission, KFOR, in Kosovo. This move comes in response to escalating tensions between Kosovo and Serbia following a deadly attack on Kosovo Police last month.
On October 6, NATO announced the deployment of 200 British soldiers to Kosovo, augmenting the 400-strong British contingent already stationed there.
Stoltenberg highlighted the heightened tensions and called for the expanded NATO presence in Kosovo on Wednesday, preceding a two-day meeting in Brussels with defense ministers from NATO member states. The meeting will address the alliance’s mission in Kosovo.
Germany also announced on October 6 its plans to send around 150 troops to Kosovo in April next year.
This decision to bolster NATO’s peacekeeping forces in Kosovo was made approximately two weeks after an armed group of Serbs attacked Kosovo Police in the village of Banjska in the Zvecan municipality on September 24. This incident resulted in the tragic death of a police officer, Afrim Bunjaku. Subsequent confrontations at the village’s monastery resulted in the loss of three Serb attackers.
Shortly after this attack, concerns were raised by the United States and the European Union about Serbia’s reported troop movements along the Kosovo border, which Serbia denied.
On October 3, the White House announced that Serbia had initiated the withdrawal of troops from the Kosovo border.
Serbia has vehemently denied Kosovo’s allegations that it was responsible for the attack, which Kosovo authorities characterized as an “attempt to annex the north of Kosovo”.
