The Serbian President noted that he had held discussions with the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance over the tense situation in northern Kosovo.
“We asked NATO to take control and ensure a decent life in the north of Kosovo. Stoltenberg listened to everything. He had objections. I tried to point out important things to him. I asked for greater security for our people in Kosovo,” the Serbian leader said.
Relations between Serbia and NATO
It is worth noting that Serbia is “offended” by NATO because of the period of the war in Yugoslavia in 1999, when the Alliance began bombing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), trying to stop ethnic cleansing in the south of Serbia – in Kosovo, inhabited by Albanians.
Serbia actively promoted the ideology of “great Serbia”, provoking and inflating interethnic strife. The NATO operation did achieve its goal – Serbia was forced to withdraw its troops from Kosovo and transfer control over the province to an international contingent.
The situation in northern Kosovo now and NATO involvement
Most of the 50,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo’s northern municipalities ignored local mayoral elections. They were won by ethnic Albanians. The Serbs did not accept this result of the vote, so mass protests began, which escalated into clashes between demonstrators and the police.
NATO sent peacekeepers to the region, but about a hundred Alliance troops were injured. NATO said it was ready for “any situation” and would “act, not react” if massive acts of violence begin again in the country. Subsequently, the number of military personnel of the North Atlantic Alliance in the region was increased to 4,500 people.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, called the conditions for holding re-elections in order to reduce tension in the region. Pristina also said it would reduce its police presence in the north by 25%.
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2023-07-19 21:20:00
