NATO has announced plans to reinforce its peacekeeping force (KFOR) in Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs in the country’s north recently came to blows with NATO peacekeepers.
Serbia’s military has since been deployed near the border with Kosovo, in the latest political flare-up in Eastern Europe.
In 2008, Kosovo—with U.S. backing—declared independence from Serbia, with which it shares a 236-mile border. However, dozens of countries, including China and five European Union member states, have never recognized the move.
Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo also oppose the country’s independence and continue to look to Belgrade as the seat of authority.
KFOR troops in riot gear stand by near a roadblock in Vojtesh, Kosovo, on Sept. 9, 2018. Visar Kryeziu/AP Photo
Moscow, which shares cultural, ethnic, and religious ties with Belgrade, also still regards Kosovo as part of Serbia. Unlike most European capitals, Belgrade opposes sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“We unconditionally support Serbia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on May 31. “We believe that all legitimate rights and interests of Kosovo’s Serbs must be respected and ensured.”
Belgrade withdrew its forces from Kosovo in 1999 after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against what was then Yugoslavia, of which Serbia had been a part.
Local Polls Trigger Clashes
In April, local elections were held in northern Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs constitute a sizeable majority.As a means of demanding greater autonomy for the region, ethnic Serbs boycotted the polls, which consequently saw a voter turnout of only 3.5 percent.
As a result, the elections were swept by ethnic Albanian candidates.
Local Serbs, for their part, reject the legitimacy of the elections, citing the meager voter turnout.
Nevertheless, on May 26, Pristina—Kosovo’s capital—dispatched security forces to the region to ensure that newly elected officials could assume office.
The move drew a rare rebuke from Washington, which called on Pristina to de-escalate the situation.
The UK, France, Italy, and Germany—all steadfast supporters of Kosovo—likewise condemned Pristina’s actions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin decorates Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with the Alexander Nevsky Order following a signing ceremony after their talks in Belgrade, Serbia, on Jan. 17, 2019. Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images
Three days later, amid ongoing protests by ethnic Serbs, KFOR peacekeepers surrounded local administrative buildings to allow elected officials to take office.
The move sparked violent clashes between Serb protesters and KFOR personnel, leaving dozens injured on both sides.
Following the disturbances, Serbia’s military went on high alert, and army units were deployed near the Kosovo border. Serbia’s defense minister, Milos Vucevic, warned that the army wouldn’t ignore violence against the region’s ethnic Serbs.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned Pristina’s “provocative acts,” which, it asserted, “threaten the security of the entire Balkan region.”
As regional tensions continued to mount, NATO announced plans to send 700 additional troops to reinforce its 4,000-strong KFOR mission.
“We will be there to ensure a safe and secure environment and to calm down and reduce tensions,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on June 1.
The following day, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti doubled down, insisting that the elected officials be allowed to take office in majority-Serb areas.
“Mayors should go and work in their offices,” Kurti told local media. “What’s the point of having public buildings for state officials if they aren’t used?”
While Kosovo isn’t currently a NATO member, its foreign minister said in December 2022 that she hoped to see the country join NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” program in 2023.
The move is widely regarded as a stepping stone toward full-fledged NATO membership.
Leaders Spar in Moldova
The ongoing crisis came up at a June 1 summit in Moldova, attended by leaders of 40 European states, including those of Kosovo and Serbia.At the event, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbia of supporting “armed gangs” in northern Kosovo in hopes of destabilizing the country.
“The situation is tense,” she said. “We need to ... restore rule of law in Kosovo and understand that the threat is coming from Serbia’s denial of Kosovo’s existence as a sovereign state.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, for his part, called on Kosovo to withdraw the “alleged mayors,” noting that its security forces were in the region illegally.
“Serbia will do its utmost to de-escalate the situation,” he said, “which means we’ll try to persuade Serbs to progress calmly and peacefully.
“But they’re very determined.”
Demonstrators march behind a banner reading "Serbia against violence" in Belgrade on May 8, 2023, as they call for the resignation of top officials and the curtailing of violence in the media, just days after back-to-back shootings stunned the Balkan country. Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images
The summit also was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who used the occasion to urge both sides to “take steps to de-escalate” the situation.
“We support the process of Euro-Atlantic integration for Kosovo and Serbia, but the current escalation hinders, rather than helps, efforts to move in that direction,” Blinken said.
Serbia is currently one of eight countries—along with Moldova and Ukraine—that enjoy official EU candidate status. Kosovo has also been designated by Brussels as a potential candidate for EU accession.
Later, Osmani and Vucic met on the summit’s sidelines at the prompting of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
At the meeting, Osmani reportedly voiced willingness to hold fresh local elections—with the participation of local Serbs—as long as they were conducted within a legal framework.
‘Maidan-Style Coup’ in Belgrade
The crisis in Kosovo coincided with large demonstrations in Belgrade on May 28, held in the wake of two mass shootings that occurred early this month.These included Serbia’s first mass school shooting, which left nine students and a security guard dead on May 3.
Congregating under the slogan “Serbia against Violence,” protesters blamed the deadly incidents on a “culture of violence,” which they say Vucic’s government has failed to address.
Reportedly numbering in the thousands, demonstrators demanded the resignation of Vucic and other top government officials.
Organized by several opposition parties, it was the fourth such protest in as many weeks. Another protest was reportedly planned for June 2.
Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Moscow’s ambassador to Serbia, accused Vucic’s political opponents of attempting to stage a “Maidan-style coup,” in reference to Ukraine’s 2014 “Maidan Revolution.”
“This is part of the hybrid war,” the diplomat told Russia’s TASS news agency on May 30. “Anti-Belgrade forces ... are operating on two fronts: the situation in Kosovo and attempts at a Maidan-style coup here in Belgrade.”
In 2014, a U.S.-backed uprising in Kyiv—dubbed the “Maidan Revolution”—swept Ukraine’s pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych from power. He was replaced by Petro Poroshenko, who set Ukraine on a decidedly more pro-Western course.
Moscow continues to view the abrupt transition of power as a Western-backed “coup” and the primary cause of the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict.
Reuters contributed to this report.
