NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo KFOR told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the Serbian army's exercises in a village in southern Serbia, where ethnic Albanians live, do not pose a threat to security in the region, BTA reported.
KFOR's statement comes after Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Belgrade of "aggression" because of the exercises.
According to the KFOR statement in response to a query by “Free Europe“ However, Belgrade has given preliminary information that Serbian armed forces will conduct a planned exercise in the village of Muhovac, near Kosovo's southern border.
The exercise in the village in the municipality of Bujanovac, where the majority of the population is Albanian, involved paratroopers dropped from helicopters, KFOR reported.
“This is a routine activity carried out on Serbian territory and does not pose a threat to security or stability in the region“, the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo said.
KFOR added that it continues to closely monitor the situation along the administrative line throughout Kosovo and maintains constant communication with local security authorities and the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces.
On Thursday, at a cabinet meeting in Pristina, Kurti told the Koha Ditore newspaper , that he is “deeply concerned by Serbia's unjustified military demonstration with helicopters and paratroopers in the Albanian-populated areas of the Bujanovac municipality, right next to the border with Kosovo“.
Kurti said that the exercises, which come at a time when Serbia has purchased Chinese-made hypersonic missiles, were conducted near homes, schools and medical centers, without providing further details.
“These provocations near the border area in Karačevo, carried out by a unit of Serbia's 63rd Parachute Brigade, through exercises with H145M helicopters and parachute landings a few meters from the border with Kosovo, constitute a dangerous demonstration of aggression“, Kurti said.
Since March 18, there has been no official information from the Serbian authorities about the conduct of such exercises in the border areas areas.
KFOR is responsible for securing Kosovo's borders with Serbia, while police in the former Serbian province, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008, are responsible for the rest of the border line.
Serbia still considers Kosovo part of its territory. The two countries have been negotiating to normalize relations since 2011. However, the agreement to normalize relations, which they reached in 2023 and which provides for mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, has never been implemented, Radio Free Europe recalls.