The Serbian government will appeal to the NATO peacekeeping commander to allow Belgrade to send up to 1,000 police and military personnel to Kosovo, President Aleksandar Vucic announced, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

It is the first time Belgrade has asked for troops to be deployed in Kosovo since a UN Security Council resolution ended the 1998-1999 war in which NATO bombed what was left of breakaway Yugoslavia, which included Serbia and Montenegro, to protect Kosovo. , with an Albanian majority.

“The government will demand the return of hundreds, but not more than 1,000 army and police personnel,” Vucic said, adding that he would email the request and deliver it in person to KFOR, NATO’s mission in Kosovo, on Friday. at the border crossing.

“I don’t expect to get a positive answer,” Vucic said.

The request comes amid a wave of clashes between Kosovo authorities and Serbs in the northern region, where they are the majority.

What does the UN resolution envisage?

The UN resolution stipulates that Serbia may be allowed, if it approves KFOR, to station personnel at checkpoints, Orthodox religious sites and areas with a Serbian majority.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the support of the West. Its independence is recognized by 110 countries, but not Serbia, Russia and five member states of the European Union.

“We are all witnesses to the constant threat to Kosovo from Serbia,” Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani told parliament in Pristina on Thursday.

“Serbia and its leader Vučić know very well that the presence of the Serbian army on the territory of Kosovo ended once and for all on June 12, 1999,” she added.

Serbia is eager to join the EU, but it needs to resolve its problems with Kosovo to complete the accession process. Kosovo applied for EU membership on Thursday.

The two sides agreed on an EU-led dialogue in 2013, but little progress has been made.