NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is reviewing a permanent increase of peacekeepers to Kosovo and Bosnia amid increasing violence and warnings of Russian interference. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian-Serb leaders have stepped up their rhetoric seeking secession from the federation, NATO allies „strongly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Stoltenberg said that NATO allies are concerned by the secessionist and divisive rhetoric, as well as malign foreign interference, including Russia.
In Kosovo, on September 24, dozens of heavily armed men led by Kosovo-Serb politician Milan Radojcic attacked Kosovo police in Banjska, killing one officer and engaging state security forces in an hourslong gun battle on the grounds of a Serbian Orthodox monastery. Three of Radojcic’s armed men were killed before the attackers fled to neighboring Serbia, where U.S. national security officials monitored an unprecedented but brief Serbian military buildup along the border with Kosovo’s Serb-dominated north. The Serb military presence along the border dissipated after U.S. warnings.
Stoltenberg said NATO allies were now reviewing whether they should have a more permanent increase to ensure that this does not spiral out of control and create new violent conflict in Kosovo or the wider region. Officials in Pristina have blamed their counterparts in Belgrade for orchestrating the Banjska attack, which officials in Belgrade deny and portray as a reaction by local Serbs disgruntled with Kosovo’s government.
Stoltenberg’s visit to Bosnia and Kosovo comes amid increased fears that Russia may use Serbian leaders in Bosnia and Serbia’s rejection of Kosovo’s independence to enflame hostilities in a region where ethnic tensions remain rife.
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE NEWS
NATO May Send More Troops to Kosovo
Follow us
