NATO confirmed Friday that it has received Serbia’s formal request to deploy 1,000 Serbian security personnel in Kosovo and is evaluating this request from Belgrade, unprecedented since the end of the war in 1999.
«We have received a letter from Serbia and are currently evaluating it. KFOR remains extremely vigilant and ready to fulfill the UN mandate,» the NATO mission in Kosovo (KFOR) has informed Europa Press.
Serbia’s Defense Minister Milos Vucevic formally announced Friday that he has asked NATO for permission to deploy its security forces in Kosovo, following statements made this past weekend by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, following an upsurge in tension in the area.
The request, based according to Serbia on UN resolution 1244, has been officially handed over to representatives of the NATO mission for Kosovo at the Merdare administrative crossing point.
According to the resolution, Serbia can deploy up to 1,000 military, police and customs personnel at Orthodox Christian religious sites, Serb-majority areas and border crossings, provided such deployment is approved by the KFOR mission command.
The move by Serbian authorities comes in the midst of spiraling tensions in northern Kosovo, following street violence and barricades by the Kosovo Serb community protesting the arrest of a former police officer and a stun grenade attack on a patrol of the European Union mission on the ground, EULEX.
On the evolution of the situation on the ground, in a press conference from Brussels, the Foreign Affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, has pointed out that the EU is involved in lowering tensions in the north of Kosovo, with continuous contacts with Pristina and Belgrade, to ensure the movement of all citizens in the area.
