4 minutes agoArmy near border with Kosovo, US, EU ambassadors visited army barracks in southern Serbia
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)The United States' Ambassador (SHBA) to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, and European Union Ambassador (BE) in Belgrade, Emmanuel Giaufret, met with Serbia's Defence Minister Milos Vuchevic and Serbia's Chief of General Staff Armed Forces General Milan Mojsilovic on Thursday. They have confirmed this [...]
This has been confirmed for Radio Free Europe the US Embassy in Belgrade.
According to reports, the meeting was held at the invitation of Serbia's military and state officials, so that Hill and Giaufre could learn more” about the situation near the border between Serbia and Kosovo.
Hill and Giaufret's visit to the Serbian Army barracks comes about ten days after Kosovo police were attacked by an armed group of Serbs in the village of Banjska, in the municipality of Zvecan on 24 September, where Sergeant Africa Bulnjak was killed. Three Serb attackers were killed in the fighting that followed in the village monastery.
And also, days after the United States and the European Union expressed concerns that Serbia had moved its troops close to the border with Kosovo, calling on it to withdraw.
Some media in Serbia reported earlier that the US diplomat first landed on the Serbian Army helicopter at the “barracks. Stefan Nemanja” in Rashka and visited the barracks “Rifat Burdzhevq Trsso” in Novi Pazar.
Both barracks are located near the border of Serbia and Kosovo.
Serbia's Defence Ministry announced that the two foreign diplomats “were guests of Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Milos Vuchevic, and chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Serbia, General Milan Mojsilovic, during a brief visit to several units of Serbia's Armed Forces in the wider area of Novi Pazar”.
“During the visit to US and EU ambassadors had the opportunity to ensure that Serbia's Armed Forces Unit in that area only perform their regular duties”, the Defence Ministry announced.
While Serbia has denied any involvement in this attack, Milan Radojic, former vice president of the Serbian List, the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo to have the backing of official Belgrade, has claimed. He was questioned and immediately released by Serbian authorities on October 4th.
After criticism from the US and the EU, Serbia began to withdraw part of its forces from the border.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq said in an interview for CNN on October 2nd that reports of increasing the number of army members in the south “were not completely true” and declared that the Serbian Army had 14,000 soldiers on the border with Kosovo a year ago, while today there are 4,4008x3> alone. / REL
