The Romanian army will complement the forces deployed in Kosovo as part of the NATO-KFOR mission and will soon send an infantry company to a peacekeeping mission in the Balkans.

KFOR troops in KosovoPhoto: Marjan Vucetic / Associated Press / Profimedia Images
  • “As a result of the North Atlantic Council’s authorization to add forces to address the ongoing situation in the Western Balkans, Romania will soon deploy a company-level unit designated as part of the strategic reserve at its disposal. SACEUR, within the NATO KFOR operation from Kosovo. Romania, as a NATO ally and a member state of the EU, has undertaken to contribute with forces and military means to efforts to maintain a stable security environment in the Western Balkans region,” MApN reports.

At the moment, Romania has almost 330 soldiers deployed in the theaters of war in the Western Balkans, of which approximately 250 are in Bosnia and Herzegovina (our country is one of the most important participants in the EU operation EUFOR ALTHEA in this country, where it provides the position of the Chief of General Staff brigade) and approximately 80 soldiers in Kosovo, in the NATO – KFOR operation.

KFOR, present in Kosovo since the 1998-99 war, remains the main institution responsible for security, with 4,500 soldiers from 27 countries.

On Sunday, an alliance spokesman announced that around 600 British soldiers would be deployed to Kosovo to strengthen NATO’s presence in the former Serbian province, where the September 24 armed attack took place.

At the same time, Germany stated that it does not rule out increasing the contribution of German troops to the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

Revival of violence in northern Kosovo

In the latest violence, on September 24, a paramilitary force of several dozen men killed a Kosovo Albanian policeman and wounded another at a checkpoint near the village of Banska in northern Kosovo, a Serb-majority region.

Three members of the militant group, all Kosovo Serbs, were later killed and three others were arrested in an operation launched by the Kosovo Police Special Forces. Russia accused Kosovo of “bloodshed”.

Others ran away. The United States, Kosovo’s main international ally, warned on Friday of a “large-scale troop deployment by Serbia along the border with Kosovo,” calling on Serbia to “withdraw (its troops).”

At the time, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused Washington of telling “untruths” without directly denying the presence of Serbian troops. He stated that the number of Serbian troops was much lower than the similar deployment in May.

The deployment of Serbian troops on the Kosovo border is reminiscent of Russia’s behavior before it invaded Ukraine, Kosovo’s foreign minister said Monday.

Read also:

  • Kosovo says Serbia is behaving the same way Russia treated Ukraine before the invasion
  • Washington asks Serbia to withdraw the troops gathered on the border with Kosovo
  • Serbia has announced that it has reduced the number of soldiers on its border with Kosovo to “normal”.

You may also be interested in:

  • The President of Serbia speaks about external support for “ethnic cleansing” in Kosovo / The European Commission threatens Serbia with sanctions
  • Vucic: Kosovo will be in Serbia during my mandate, after that ask someone else
  • Aleksandar Vučić: Serbia is not “surrendering”, will never recognize Kosovo, but “NATO is around us”