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NATO sends 600 UK soldiers to Kosovo in response to clashes

October 2, 2023

The reserves will assist NATO's KFOR troops in the region after armed clashes last week. Serbian President Vucic, meanwhile, denied he was amassing troops at the Kosovo border.

https://p.dw.com/p/4X1jU
NATO-led International Military Mission to Kosovo (KFOR) increase the security measures in Zvecan
Serbia's president has denied reports of a military buildup along its border with KosovoImage: Erkin Keci/AA/picture alliance

NATO on Sunday announced that it would be deploying some 600 additional troops to Kosovo to assist KFOR troops in the region after a recent deadly attack on a Kosovar police station amid rumors of a Serbian troop build-up.

"The UK is deploying around 200 soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment to join a 400-strong UK contingent already exercising in Kosovo, and further reinforcements will follow from other Allies," announced NATO Spokesman Dylan White.

"The decision follows the violent attack on Kosovo Police on 24 September, and increased tensions in the region," White added. He did not, however, refer to Washington's Friday statement warning of a Serbian military build-up on Kosovo's border.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday denied any such build-up of his country's troops, citing instead a "campaign of lies."

The move comes in the wake of an attack in the former Serbian region that killed four people, including one Kosovar police officer and three heavily-armed Serbian militants.

The attack was the most serious escalation in the region in recent years and has sparked concern of a new chapter to an ongoing conflict.

NATO has called for calm and said that dialogue is "the only way to achieve lasting peace."

Serbia refuses to acknowledge the independence of Albanian-majority Kosovo, which Kosovo declared in 2008. 

Kosovo seeks NATO assistance as ethnic tensions rise

js/jsi (AFP, AP)