Warned by Washington, Serbia claimed, Monday, October 2, to have brought the level of its troops “to normal” along the border with Kosovo, which accuses it of having planned to “annex” its territories in the North, a week after a resurgence of violence.
NATO announced on Sunday that its military mission in Kosovo, with 4,500 soldiers, would be reinforced by 600 British soldiers, 400 of whom are already there as part of an exercise. Faced with this pressure, the chief of staff of the Serbian army wanted to reassure about Belgrade’s intentions.
“The operating regime of the units (…) in the security zone” along the “administrative line with Kosovo has been returned to normal,” General Milan Mojsilovic said in a statement to the press in Belgrade. He said the number of troops was reduced from 8,350 to 4,500, a week after the latest violence in northern Kosovo.
The United States said during the day that any withdrawal of Serbian troops from the border with Kosovo would be a “welcome measure” after Serbia announced that it had reduced the level of its troops “to normal”. “We are waiting to see confirmation of this. But, if true, it would be a welcome step,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Northern Kosovo, a Serb-majority area, was the scene of heavy clashes on September 24 between special forces of the Kosovar police and a heavily armed paramilitary commando, believed to have been set up by a political leader of the Kosovo Serbs, Milan Radoicic. On the day of the attack, authorities in Pristina claimed that Belgrade was behind the armed group, accusations that Serbian authorities reject.
“A larger plan to annex northern Kosovo”
The leaders of Serbia, a country which does not recognize the independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former majority Albanian province, describes the border with Kosovo as an “administrative line”.
General Mojsilovic declared himself “surprised” by the “deep concern of some” about the deployment of Serbian forces, less important, according to him, than usual in “similar security crises”.
For his part, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic denounced an “irresponsible (…) campaign” against the Serbian army and its deployments, but he also suggested that Serbian forces were capable of invading the Kosovo if Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic were to order it.
“Based on seized documents, Kosovo Police confirmed that the terrorist attack was part of a larger plan to annex northern Kosovo through a coordinated attack on thirty-seven positions” in total , wrote the Kosovar Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, on X (formerly Twitter). The plan was, he said, to “establish a corridor to Serbia” to “enable the supply of weapons and troops.”
A third of the approximately 120,000 Kosovo Serbs (which has a total population of 1.8 million) live in northern Kosovo, a region bordering Serbia where Pristina wishes to establish its sovereignty. Supported by Belgrade, they refuse all allegiance to the government of Kosovo.