The United States Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, and the European Union Ambassador to Belgrade, Emanuele Giaufret, held a meeting on Thursday in southern Serbia with the Serbian Minister of Defense, Milo\u0161 Vu\u010devi\u0107, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Serbia, General Milan Mojsilovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade confirmed this meeting, which was convened at the request of Serbian military and government officials, with the purpose of \u201callowing Hill and Giaufret to gain further insight into the situation near the Serbia-Kosovo border\u201d.<\/p>\n
This visit by Hill and Giaufret to Serbian military facilities comes approximately ten days after an armed group of Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police in the village of Banjska, within the municipality of Zvecan, on September 24. This attack resulted in the tragic death of officer Afrim Bunjaku, with three Serbian attackers also losing their lives during the ensuing clashes at the village\u2019s monastery.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, this meeting occurred shortly after the United States and the European Union expressed concerns about Serbia\u2019s troop movements near the Kosovo border and called for their withdrawal.<\/p>\n
Earlier reports in Serbian media had suggested that the American diplomat initially arrived at the Serbian Army\u2019s \u201cStefan Nemanja\u201d barracks in Ra\u0161ka by helicopter and later visited the \u201cRifat Burd\u017eevic\u0301 Tr\u0161o\u201d barracks in Novi Pazar.<\/p>\n
Both of these barracks are located in close proximity to the Serbia-Kosovo border.<\/p>\n
The Serbian Ministry of Defense stated that the two foreign diplomats were \u201cguests of Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Milo\u0161 Vu\u010devi\u0107 and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Serbia, General Milan Mojsilovi\u0107, during a brief visit to some units of the Armed Forces of Serbia in the wider Novi Pazar area\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Ministry further reported that during their visit, the U.S. and EU ambassadors had the opportunity to confirm that the units of the Armed Forces of Serbia in the region were solely engaged in their regular duties.<\/p>\n
While Serbia has denied any involvement in the attack, responsibility for it was claimed by Milan Radoji\u010di\u0107, the former deputy chairman of the Serb List, the largest political party representing Serbs in Kosovo, which has official support from Belgrade. Radoji\u010di\u0107 was questioned and subsequently released by Serbian authorities on October 4.<\/p>\n
Following criticism from the United States and the European Union, Serbia began to withdraw some of its forces from the border area.<\/p>\n
Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, in an interview with CNN on October 2, disputed reports of an increased number of troops in the south, stating that the reports \u201cwere not entirely accurate\u201d and asserting that a year ago, the Serbian army had 14,000 soldiers stationed on the Kosovo border, whereas today, there are \u201conly 4,400\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, and the European Union Ambassador to Belgrade, Emanuele Giaufret, held a meeting on Thursday in southern Serbia with the Serbian Minister of Defense, Milo\u0161 Vu\u010devi\u0107, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Serbia, General Milan Mojsilovi\u0107. The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade confirmed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":60622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[524,1187,308,300,243,151,301,2741,490],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n