NATO ready to act to save Kosovo’s peace, calls for de-escalation

NATO forces in Kosovo are ready to face any situation if acts of violence similar to recent encounters threaten the peace, the NATO commander in Pristina said late on Monday.

Some 30 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters late on May. Fifty-two protesters were wounded.NATO, what has been guarding Kosovo since the war ended in 1999, decided to deploy an extra 700 troops and put another battalion on high alert, bringing its force to about 4,511.”We plan to face any kind of circumstances. That’s the reason why we received additional forces. We do not react, we act,” the commander of NATO troops, known as KFOR, Angelo Michele Ristuccia told to a group of journalists from his headquarters in the outskirts of Pristina.He said the situation remained very tense, despite relative calm in recent days.”There is not a military solution at this moment because the only way to solve this situation is a political decision which is based on the will of both sides to normalise their relations. But first to de-escalate,” Ristuccia said.

Reuters