Serbian President To Visit Military Units Near Kosovo Amid Tensions - Defense Ministry

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2018) Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will pay visits to the country's military units, located along the ground safety zone with the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo by Sunday evening, the Serbian Defense Ministry said.

"In the next 72 hours, the Serbian President and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army Alexander Vucic accompanied by Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of the General Staff Lt. Col. Milan Mojsilovic will visit a number of units in the ground security zone and the third and fourth brigade of the Serbian army in the south of Central Serbia," the ministry said.

In October, Kosovo's parliament voted to change the mandate of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) and transform it into the republic's national army. On Monday, Kadri Veseli, the speaker of the Kosovar legislature, announced that the army would be officially created on December 14. The forces will reportedly comprise a total of 8,000 people � 5,000 active duty soldiers and 3,000 reservists.

The move was 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."