(Washington) The United States warned on Friday of a “major Serbian military deployment along the border with Kosovo” at a time when tensions between Pristina and Belgrade are very high.
Washington “calls on Serbia to withdraw [ses] troops,” said a White House spokesperson, announcing a strengthening of the presence of the NATO force in Kosovo.
In Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, reporting to the media on an exchange Friday with the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, accused Washington of uttering “untruths” without explicitly denying the presence of Serbian soldiers near the border with the territory.
He indicated that he had “not signed” to order the “highest level of combat readiness” of the Serbian forces, and assured: “We do not even have half the troops that we had two or three years ago months” in the area near the border with Kosovo.
PHOTO ZORANA JEVTIC, REUTERS
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic
Relations between Belgrade, which still refuses to recognize the independence declared in 2008 by Pristina, go from crisis to crisis but the latest bout of fever is the most serious in several years.
NATO said it was ready on Friday to reinforce the strength of KFOR, the force it deploys in Kosovo, to “deal with the situation” after an attack carried out on Sunday in the north by a heavily armed commando.
The military alliance does not specify what type of forces could be deployed, but the British Ministry of Defense indicated for its part that a battalion, approximately 500 to 650 men, had been made available to KFOR, in the event of of need.
The White House observed “the unprecedented deployment of sophisticated artillery, tanks and infantry units” on the Kosovo border, detailed John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, specifying that these troop movements had taken place “a week ago”.
“Intentions”
He did not wish to comment on Serbia’s “intentions” or on the risk of a possible invasion of Kosovo.
John Kirby indicated that Antony Blinken had called the Serbian president to express American “concern” and “highlight the need for an immediate reduction in tensions and a return to dialogue.” »
American national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
In a brief statement on Wednesday, Belgrade indicated that Defense Minister Milos Vucevic had gone, with the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilovic, “to the deployment zone of part of the units of the Serbian army”, without further details.
Relations between Serbia and Kosovo are still execrable two decades after a deadly war between Kosovar independence guerrillas and Serbian forces which only ended with a NATO bombing campaign.
A Kosovar Albanian police officer was killed Sunday in an ambush in northern Kosovo, where Serbs are the majority in several towns. A shootout ensued, between the special forces of the Kosovo police and a heavily armed commando, whose members were identified as Kosovo Serbs.
Around 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo, a third of them in the north, out of a population of 1.8 million, the vast majority of them Kosovar Albanians. The latest violence dates back to the spring, when the Kosovar authorities decided to appoint Albanian mayors in four municipalities with a Serbian majority.
This measure triggered major demonstrations, the arrest of three Kosovar police officers by Serbia and a riot by Serbian demonstrators which left more than 30 KFOR soldiers injured.