NATO rejects Serbian request – president — RT World Information

NATO has rejected Belgrade’s request for the deployment of Serbian troops to Kosovo amid rising tensions within the breakaway area, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has stated.

In a “fastidiously composed letter” the command of the US-led navy bloc’s contingent in Kosovo (KFOR) “replied that they consider that there isn’t any want for the return of the Serbian Military to the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, whereas referring to Decision 1244” of the UN Safety Council, Vucic advised Pink TV on Sunday.

KFOR kept away from stating a particular clause within the decision that might justify its determination, “since they don’t have any proper to refuse that request,” the president insisted.

Decision 1244, which authorizes the presence of international forces in Kosovo, was adopted in 1999 after a virtually three months-long NATO bombing marketing campaign towards Serbia.

The US and lots of of its allies acknowledged the primarily Albanian-populated Kosovo as a sovereign state in 2008. Belgrade, nonetheless, has been reluctant to offer in to stress to do the identical. It nonetheless considers the province to be a part of its territory, with the Serbian stance being shared by Russia, China and different nations.

The rejection of Belgrade’s request to deploy troops to Kosovo to guard the ethnic Serbs there didn’t come as a shock, Vucic stated. Nonetheless, the top of state added that he thought that it was “inappropriate” on the a part of NATO to ship a adverse response to Serbia on Saturday, the day the Orthodox nation celebrated Christmas.

As for the KFOR troops in Kosovo, Vucic identified that he couldn’t name their conduct unprofessional however added that the NATO contingent within the area was “solely a software” for the Western powers.

Serbia and Kosovo have been at odds all through 2022 over Pristina’s plans to ban Serbian license plates within the province. Closely armed ethnic Albanian police had been deployed in Serbian-populated areas, with the locals protesting and constructing barricades in response.

Tensions within the area have once more spiked earlier this week after two Serbian youths, who had been strolling with oak branches used to rejoice Christmas within the Orthodox Christian custom, had been wounded in a drive-by capturing close to the city of Strpce. The attacker, who has been detained, was stated to have been an Albanian nationwide.

“We’ve got a tough interval forward of us, however we’ll hold preventing and we count on a constructive final result,” Vucic stated. The incidents just like the one outdoors Strpce are occurring due to the atmosphere created in Kosovo by the native authorities of Albin Kurti, he insisted.