Serbian Police Ready To Protect Citizens Amid Kosovo Steps To Create Army - Minister

The Serbian police are ready to protect the country's citizens and the state, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said Friday after the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo formalized plans to create a national army.

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2018) The Serbian police are ready to protect the country's citizens and the state, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said Friday after the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo formalized plans to create a national army.

Earlier in the day, the parliament of Kosovo passed a set of bills providing for the change of mandate of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) and its transformation into the republic's national army.

"Employees of the gendarmerie and other Interior Ministry divisions are ready to perform all the tasks that the state will set to protect the security of citizens and prevent any kind of threat to the stability of our country .

.. Pristina's decision to transform the KSF into the so-called Kosovo army is a threat to peace and stability in the region and a gross violation of international law, especially of UN Security Council Resolution 1244," Stefanovic said as quoted in the ministry's statement.

The Kosovar army will reportedly consist of 5,000 active soldiers and 3,000 reservists, and will receive 300 million Euros ($340 million) in funding over three years to equip and train its forces.

The plans to create an army were criticized not only by Belgrade but by NATO as well, with the alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, saying that such actions were "ill-timed."