NATO has authorised additional forces for Kosovo, the military alliance said, following the worst violence in northern Kosovo in years.
Kosovo’s prime minister on Friday welcomed a NATO decision to bolster its troops in the volatile Balkan region, saying last weekend’s shootout that left four people dead illustrates Serbia’s attempts to destabilise its former province with the help of ally Russia.
“These people want to turn back time,” Prime Minister Albin Kurti told The Associated Press. “They are in search of a time machine. They want to turn the clock back by 30 years. But that is not going to happen.”
NATO said in a statement that it had “authorised additional forces to address the current situation” but did not immediately specify how many or from which countries.
A later statement from the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said it had transferred command of a battalion of troops to the alliance.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday and stressed the importance of de-escalating tensions with Kosovo after recent violence and the death of a Kosovo police officer, the Department of State said.
Original from www.aljazeera.com