After a violent confrontation between peacekeepers and local Serbs, the decision was proclaimed.
The NATO alliance will send 700 additional peacekeepers to Kosovo, where 30 soldiers were injured in confrontations with local Serb demonstrators. If the situation escalates further, a second battalion will be placed on high alert.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared the deployment, explaining that it was in response to recent “attacks” on the peacekeeping force, which he deemed “unacceptable.”
Stoltenberg urged officials in Pristina and Belgrade to take “concrete steps” to de-escalate the situation, and said the two parties should participate in a dialogue mediated by the EU.
After peacekeepers attempted to disperse protesters against the inauguration of an Albanian mayor in a Serb-majority area, violent confrontations broke out between local Serbs and NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR). On both parties, dozens of people were injured during the standoff.
Local Serbs, who have long sought autonomy in Kosovo, boycotted elections supported by Pristina in a number of regions of Serbia’s breakaway province. Despite a voter turnout of less than 4%, local authorities deemed the votes valid and announced the election of four Albanian mayors.
KFOR was created in 1999 as a result of NATO’s intervention in the Kosovo conflict on behalf of Kosovar Albanians and the alliance’s months-long bombardment campaign in Serbia. At its peak, the force comprised approximately 50,000 soldiers, but has since decreased to approximately 3,700 soldiers today.
Since the conflict in 1999, Kosovo has endured several bouts of disturbance. 2008 saw the unilateral declaration of independence from Belgrade by Albanian authorities supported by the West. The United States and many other Western nations supported the initiative swiftly. Russia and China are among the countries that continue to perceive Kosovo as an integral part of Serbia.
Moscow has asserted that NATO is primarily responsible for the recent increase in hostilities. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the alliance of becoming “a source of unnecessary violence” and a “escalation factor” in the region. She urged the alliance to “silence its false propaganda” against local Serbs, whom she claimed were erroneously accused for inciting incidents.
