TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Kosovo assesses that the deployment of Serbian troops on the border of the two countries is similar to Russia’s behavior towards Ukraine before the invasion. That’s why Kosovo’s foreign minister is urging the European Union to take action against Belgrade such as freezing its candidacy status.
The warning came after the United States said on Friday, September 29, 2023, that it was monitoring a troubling Serbian military deployment along the Kosovo border that was destabilizing the region, and NATO authorized additional peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.
“There has never been such a concentration of troops in recent years,” Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla-Schwarz told German television. DeutschlandfunkMonday, October 2, 2023. “The weaponry they have there, the tanks – it gives us a bad feeling because we don’t know how the international community will respond.”
He said this was due not only to the concentration of troops on the outskirts of his former southern province, whose independence Belgrade does not recognize, but also to Serbian rhetoric and their “methods” that resembled Russia’s behavior towards Ukraine.
“That is why it is important to take the necessary steps,” he said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said last week that he did not intend to order his troops across the border into Kosovo because an escalation of the conflict would harm Belgrade’s aspirations to join the EU.
Tensions have risen between the two countries since a gun battle between Kosovo police and armed ethnic Serbs at a monastery turned a quiet village in northern Kosovo into a war zone 10 days ago.
Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and NATO intervention in 1999, accuses Serbia of arming and supporting armed Serb ethnic groups.
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Serbia accuses Kosovo of inciting violence by failing to implement a decade-old deal that provides for local autonomy for ethnic Serbs in the country’s north, where they make up the majority.
“Vucic will not let this happen if clear words are not spoken and he does not see the consequences of his actions,” said Foreign Minister Gervalla-Schwarz and mentioned that such actions could include suspending EU funds for Serbia and the country’s membership candidacy status.
REUTERS
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2023-10-02 09:45:00
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