NATO's Europe Commander Meets With Kosovo Defense Minister - Reports

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Tod Wolters has met with the defense minister of partially recognized Kosovo, Rrustem Berisha, who has told him about Kosovo's future armed forces, Gazeta Express newspaper reported on Friday

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2019) NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Tod Wolters has met with the defense minister of partially recognized Kosovo, Rrustem Berisha, who has told him about Kosovo's future armed forces, Gazeta Express newspaper reported on Friday.

In December, the parliament of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo voted on a series of laws aimed at transforming the Kosovo Security Force into a full-fledged army. The Pristina forces are set to number 5,000 active servicemen and 3,000 reservists, and to have its own artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, and chemical corps.

"I have informed General Wolters that the Kosovo Security Force is a multinational and professional force, ready to protect our country, but only in cooperation with our partners in the region and beyond," Berisha said, according to Gazeta Express.

Before visiting Pristina, Wolters came to Belgrade, where the Serbian authorities informed him that they considered the Kosovo Force, a NATO-led peacekeeping force, to be the only legitimate armed forces in Kosovo, and warned that Pristina's initiatives were threatening to destabilize the region.

Since the collapse of Yugoslavia the status of Kosovo has been disputed between Serbia and Kosovo's Albanian population. In 1999, the armed struggle between Albanian separatists and Serbia resulted in NATO bombardments of Serbia. In 2005 Albanians initiated mass pogroms against Kosovo's Serbian population.

In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally announced its independence from Serbia. Russia does not recognize the self-proclaimed republic, along with Serbia, China, Israel, Iran a number of other countries.