Serbia mulls sending troops to Kosovo as tensions escalate

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s prime minister says the country’s leadership is close to demanding the deployment of their security troops to Kosovo. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic accused the NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo of failing to protect the lives of minority Serbs there. The return of Belgrade’s troops to the former Serbian province could dramatically increase tensions in the Balkans. Serbian officials claim a U.N. resolution that formally ended the country’s bloody crackdown against majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 allows for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. The peacekeeping force would have to give a green light for Serb troops to go into Kosovo, something highly unlikely to happen. Kosovo declared independence in 2008.