NATO will send 700 more troops to Kosovo to help quell violent protests

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — NATO will send 700 more troops to northern Kosovo to quell violent protests after clashes with Serbs left 30 international soldiers injured, the alliance announced Tuesday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said an additional reserve battalion would be ready in case additional troops are needed.

“These are prudent steps,” said Stoltenberg, who made the announcement in Oslo after talks with the Norwegian prime minister.

The NATO-led peacekeeping mission known as KFOR currently consists of almost 3,800 soldiers. A battalion usually has between 300 and around 1,000 soldiers.

Early Tuesday, multinational KFOR peacekeepers used metal fences and barbed wire barriers to reinforce positions in a northern city that has become a hotspot.

Troops sealed off the municipal building in Zvecan, where unrest on Monday spiked tensions and raised fears of instability amid mounting Western efforts to resolve a long-simmering dispute.

A former province of Serbia, Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence is not recognized by Belgrade. Ethnic Albanians make up the majority of the population, but Kosovo has a restive Serb minority in the north of the country that borders Serbia.

Stoltenberg condemned the violence and warned that NATO troops would “take all necessary measures to maintain a safe environment for all citizens of Kosovo.”

He urged both sides to refrain from “further irresponsible behaviour” and return to EU-backed talks to improve relations.

The United States and most European Union nations have recognized Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, while Russia and China have sided with Belgrade. China on Tuesday expressed its support for Serbia’s efforts to “safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and Moscow has repeatedly criticized Western policies in the dispute.

Tensions first rose over the weekend after ethnic Albanian officials elected in votes overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings. When the Serbs tried to block them, the Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

In response, Serbia put the country’s army on high alert and sent more troops to the Kosovo border. Serbs protested again on Monday, insisting that both ethnic Albanian mayors and Kosovo police must leave northern Kosovo.

The fighting worsened when the Serbs tried to break into the municipal offices in Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital Pristina.

They clashed first with the Kosovo police and then with international peacekeepers deployed in Zvecan.

In a video message released Tuesday night, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the mayors elected in the April 23 vote “are the only ones who have the legitimacy to be in municipal buildings and serving of the citizen”.

The instigators of the violence have been identified, according to the prime minister, who named some Serbian businessmen who force their employees to protest.

“In Kosovo, power is won through elections, not through violence and crime,” he said.

The outbreak has triggered international efforts to calm the situation.

The United States and the EU recently intensified their work to broker a deal between Serbia and Kosovo, fearing instability as Russia’s war rages in Ukraine. The EU has made it clear to both Serbia and Kosovo that they must normalize relations if they are to make any progress towards joining the bloc.

“We already have too much violence in Europe today. We cannot afford another conflict,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.

As a first step to ease tensions, he said, the Kosovo police should suspend the operation centered on municipal buildings in the north, and violent protesters should “stand down.”

In response to the recent unrest, NATO decided to augment its KFOR troops by deploying “operational reserve forces” to the Western Balkans, a statement said, without specifying a number. Another unit will be on standby “to be ready to reinforce KFOR if necessary.”

A statement issued by KFOR on Tuesday said 30 soldiers, 11 Italian and 19 Hungarian, were injured, including fractures and burns by improvised explosive incendiary devices.

Three Hungarian soldiers were “wounded by the use of firearms” but their injuries were not life-threatening, the statement added.

Serbian officials said 52 people were injured, including three seriously. Four protesters were detained, according to Kosovo police.

“Both sides must take full responsibility for what happened and prevent further escalation, instead of hiding behind false narratives,” the KFOR commander, Maj. Gen., said. Angelo Michele Ristuccia said.

Belgrade and Pristina have blamed each other for the escalation.

Meanwhile, ambassadors from the so-called Quint countries (France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States) met Kurti in Pristina on Monday and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade on Tuesday.

Subsequently, Vucic also met with the Russian and Chinese ambassadors to Serbia.

In a statement from his office, Vucic expressed “immense dissatisfaction and great concern” at what he described as international “tolerance” toward Kurti’s actions that fueled violence against Serbs.

Urgent measures to ensure the security of Serbs in Kosovo are a precondition for any future talks, Vucic insisted.

Kurti thanked the KFOR troops for “courageous action to preserve peace in the face of violent extremism.”

“The border between Kosovo and Serbia is one of those dangerous places where a spark could start a fire,” Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.

Russia and China have strongly criticized Western support for Kosovo’s independence. Russian President Vladimir Putin has often cited the “precedent” of NATO’s 1999 bombing of Serbia to justify his illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine.

The conflict in Kosovo erupted in 1998 when ethnic Albanian separatists rebelled against the Serbian government, and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. Some 13,000 people died, mostly ethnic Albanians.

NATO military intervention in 1999 finally forced Serbia to withdraw from the territory and paved the way for the establishment of the KFOR peacekeeping mission.

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Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. Associated Press journalists Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; Lorne Cook in Brussels; and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.