Maqedonci: The enormous deployment of Serbian brigades on the border with Kosovo, a danger for the entire Balkans

Kosovo is facing an enormous deployment of the Serbian army, police and gendarmerie in the south of Serbia, mainly along the border line, Defense Minister Ejup Maqedonci declared in an interview for The Geopost.

In addition to the brigades, he says that Serbia has deployed on the border with Kosovo other capacities that were bought from China and Russia and that this represents a threat not only to Kosovo, but to all the countries of the Western Balkans. According to him, such a risk is very high.

Maqedonci also talks about the Russian influence in the Balkans, for which he says that information is the weapon that Russia uses to bring a state to its knees, and this, as he says, is gaining scope by having as a base the intelligence structures of Serbia, also supported by the structures of Russian intelligence.

In the interview for The Geopost, Maqedonci also talks about the capacities of the Kosovo Security Force, which he says is being strengthened and is in the second phase of the transition in coordination with the United States of America.

 Full interview:

The Geopost: Mr. Minister, can you tell us about the capacities of the Kosovo Security Force and how you see the approval of the USA for the supply of Javelin missiles, what does this mean for Kosovo?

Maqedonci: The Kosovo Security Force, i.e. the Ministry of Defense, supports the development of the Kosovo Security Force based on the comprehensive transition plan, a plan which has been drawn up in cooperation with the United States of America and other NATO partners. This plan has been implemented since 2019. We are currently in the second phase of the comprehensive transition plan.

This plan is divided into three main phases. The first phase was completed in 2022 and mainly involved the preparation of legislation, doctrine, documents and training for members of the Kosovo Security Force. Currently, we are in the second phase of the comprehensive transition plan, which will continue until 2025, so the end of this phase will be the year 2025, which means that until that time, the Kosovo Security Force will have three validated infantry regiments, ready to perform territory defense tasks, i.e. combat tasks for the defense of the territory, and ready to be part of joint missions with our partners and allies.

Normally during the last year, you are informed that we have validated an infantry regiment, this regiment was validated within the exercise “Defender Europe 23” and we are currently preparing for the validation of the second infantry regiment. The supply, i.e. the acceptance of the request by the state department for the Javelin anti-tank system, which happened on January 11 of this year, i.e. 2024, is very significant for us, especially for the fact that with this system we develop it even further our combat capacities to support the operations of the Kosovo Security Force.

These capacities are planned and coordinated together with the United States of America and will be built over the years according to the plan.

The third phase will begin in 2025 and end in 2028. This will be the final phase of the transition of the Kosovo Security Force, where we will also build other capacities, such as air support capacities and artillery capacities.

A part of them we already have in place at this stage and this is thanks to the continuous support we have received from Prime Minister Kurti and the Government of the Republic of Kosovo with an additional budget. So, the budget that we received, both in terms of the increase in the budget, also the additional budget that we received during these three years, has clearly influenced us to develop these capacities much earlier than they were planned and currently, you have it as information that we have in place the capacities of air support through Bayraktar drones, but we also plan to build other capacities. We also have other systems that are already in operation.

All these capacities are being built in cooperation with our partners and all the purchases that have been made are made in accordance with NATO standards, so all the equipment of the Kosovo Security Force is equipment that is purchased from NATO countries, according to NATO standards and are planned in the equipment inventory of the Kosovo Security Force.

The Geopost: There are 48 military bases of Serbia on the border with Kosovo, we also have the supply of weapons that Serbia received from Russia, how much does this endanger Kosovo?

Maqedonci: Yes, the 48 forward operational bases of the Serbian army and gendarmerie are a constant threat to our country also due to the fact that these 48 bases are close to the border with the territory of our country, that is, they are anywhere from 300 meters to 5 kilometers from the line border of Kosovo and are hostilely directed against the territory of our country. In addition to these 48 bases, it is also worth noting the fact that 3 of the 4 brigades of the Serbian army are deployed in the south of the territory of Serbia, and they are hostilely directed against the territory of our country.

We have a huge deployment of the Serbian army, police and gendarmerie in the south of Serbia, mainly along the border line with the Republic of Kosovo. In addition to these 3 brigades, there are also other combat formations of the Serbian army that are deployed in the south of the territory of Serbia and are mainly at the bases in Rashke, Niš and Vranje, that is, along the entire border line of our country and these 48 bases that you highlighted are an operational extension of these 3 brigades of the Serbian army that are currently in the south of the territory of Serbia and only 1 of the 4 brigades of the Serbian army is deployed in the north of the territory of Serbia, more precisely on the border with the Republic of Croatia .

So, most of the combat capacities, including the capacities that have been purchased from China and Russia, are deployed in the south of the territory of Serbia, and this does not pose a threat only to our country, but to the entire region of the Western Balkans and to the other countries bordering the Republic of Kosovo. Adding to this the recent actions that have been undertaken by armed paramilitary groups guided by the security structures of Serbia, this risk is very high.

The Geopost: how safe are the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo?

Maqedonci: Serbia against the Republic of Kosovo is implementing different tactics and formats of war, among them are also hybrid threats, that is, through hybrid attacks which means the engagement of conventional forces in cooperation with non-conventional forces against the Republic of Kosovo, in this case, the information is one of the elements, propaganda, we can say is one of the elements that Serbia has been using over the years to endanger, to undermine stability in our country, but also to influence and keep under control the Serbian citizens of Kosovo, who , unfortunately some of them, not all, are influenced by this propaganda in relation to integration into the structures and society of the Republic of Kosovo. This information is continuously reflected through different forms, 50% of the media in Serbia remain without authors, they are media that is not known where they are based and these media have extensions in the Republic of Kosovo and continuously try to create a situation where they would question the stability of our country, trying to create social unrest but also other troubles for the citizens of our country.

It should be noted that one of the main points of the Russian secret service to destabilize a country, that is, to bring a state to its knees, is information, and information always aims to create a collective depression, a depression that is also valid in our country and which I estimate is based on the intelligence structures of Serbia, also supported by the intelligence structures of Russia.

The Geopost: We have discussions about Kosovo’s entry into NATO, but first we need a partnership for peace?

Maqedonci: Partnership for peace is not a required and necessary step to be accepted into NATO, so it is a separate step from NATO membership. Our country is building defense capacities in accordance with NATO standards. We, within the Ministry of Defense and Kosovo Security Force, have a NATO team which is a team dedicated to advising and supporting the development of the defense capacities of our country. All the doctrine that we have built in the Kosovo Security Force and all the planning that takes place in the Ministry of Defense is in accordance with NATO standards, all equipment purchases, all the systems we use are NATO systems. and these steps were taken mainly with the aim of bringing our country closer to the partnership for peace and NATO.

The decision to be part of NATO, but also of the partnership for peace, is a political decision of NATO members, and unfortunately we still have countries that are reluctant to recognize the independence of our country and consequently are reluctant to accept Kosovo, however, we have had rapprochement recently, during the autumn of last year, at the KSF Partner conference, we have also had countries that have not recognized our country but have participated in this conference, which is organized with the aim of developing the Kosovo Security Force and bringing the KSF closer to NATO, more precisely we have had representatives from Greece and Slovakia who were part of this conference that took place during October last year (2023)

/The Geopost