Romania is expected to deploy an additional infrantry battalion
to be part of NATO’s strategic reserves in its operations in Kosovo, the
Defense Ministry announced. The decision was made public after the North
Atlantic Council authorized the deployment of additional troops to manage the
situation in the Western Balkans. As a member of NATO and the EU, Bucharest
pledged to contribute troops and military equipment to allied efforts at
ensuring a stable security environment in the Balkan region, commonly seen as
Europe’s powder keg. Alongside Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia, Romania is
one of the five members of the EU that don’t officially recognize Kosovo.
Romanian troops are deployed on the ground as part of an international mission
designed to maintain a fragile peace in this region. Right now, nearly 330
Romanian servicemen are deployed to the Western Balkans, of which 250 in Bosnia
Herzegovina and some 80 in Kosovo.
Tension has again spiked in Kosovo after at
the end of September a paramilitary outfit made up of a few dozen men killed an
Albanian-born police officer and wounded another one close to the village of
Banka in northern Kosovo. Three members of the commando, all Serbs, where later
killed in an operation launched by Kosovar law enforcement.
The deployment of
Serbian troops on the Kosovar border recalls Russia’s military built-up on the
Ukrainian border months before invading the country, Kosovo’s Foreign Minister
Donika Gervalla-Schwarz said. The Kosovar official claims never have so many
troops been amassed in recent years, while the weapons and tanks they dispose
of create a bad feeling, because we don’t know how the international community
will respond, the Kosovar official said. Minister Gervalla-Schwarz called on
the EU to take action against Serbia and freeze its EU candidate status. Last
week, the United States announced they were monitoring a concerning build-up of
Serbian troops alongside the border with Kosovo. Also last week, Serbia’s
president, Aleksandar Vučić, said he has no intention of ordering his troops to
cross into neighboring Kosovo, a province that proclaimed its independence from
Belgrade in 2008. An escalation of the conflict would impact Serbia’s EU
accession aspirations, the Serbian president said. Following his statement, the
Serbian Chief of Defense Staff, Milan Mojsilović, said he ordered the
withdrawal of half of the nearly 8,000 Serbian servicemen deployed to the border
with Kosovo. (VP)