Vucic: Kosovo Creating a Large and Illegal Army under U.S. Patronage

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/EMIL VAS)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Jan. 13 that Kosovo was creating extremely powerful armed forces, and that the United States were running the operation, contrary to international law and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, underlining that for that reason Serbia had to drastically reinforce its own army.

“They plan to have 5,500 professional soldiers in the so-called Kosovo Security Forces by 2027, and 20,000 troops more in military reserves,” Vucic said during a visit to the Operative Center of the Military Intelligence Agency (VBA).

The president said that the greatest military assistance to Kosovo had come from the U.S., Turkey, Germany, Great Britain but neighboring Croatia as well. According to the president, the situation is not at all easy, as Serbia is surrounded by states belonging to the NATO Alliance, whose troops had been deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, too, even though Bosnia is not a NATO member.

Vucic said that it was absolutely certain that the presence and actions of various intelligence and other foreign services had been intensified in Serbia, adding that the bulk of state spending would be on the Serbian military this year.