NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg says the alliance closely monitors what Russia is doing in the western Balkans but currently sees no military threat to any NATO member in the region.
Speaking on November 21 in Skopje on the last stop of a tour of the western Balkans, Stoltenberg noted NATO’s military presence in Kosovo and ties it has with Sarajevo and Belgrade as he touted the alliance’s readiness.
“We are ready to step up quickly and do whatever it takes to defend every ally against any threat, yet we are not seeing anything which would come as a threat against any NATO ally,” he said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovecevski, who agreed that there is no threat from Russia to the security and stability of North Macedonia and the region.
Kovacevski said, however, that the country and NATO are fighting against Russian influence in the region.
“Influence of third countries, including Russian influence, exists in the region, and they are always able to find like-minded people in individuals, in certain political parties and in certain organizations,” he said.
But the attempts to destabilize the country are outmatched by the institutions of North Macedonia and those of the NATO member states, he said in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s statement that there is information that Russia has a plan for destabilization of the Balkans.
Stoltenberg said the response to authoritarian states that want to undermine freedom, spread misinformation, sow divisions, and undermine democracy must be “to work even closer together in NATO through our military presence and our cooperation with allies and partners because we are a truly great force for stability in the region.”
The NATO chief arrived in North Macedonia from Serbia. He also visited Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
Earlier in Belgrade, Stoltenberg said NATO and Serbia are looking into the possible resumption of joint military exercises.
Serbia, which has declared its neutrality but has close traditional ties with Moscow, stopped its participation in multinational military exercises after the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
“We discussed the possibility of resuming joint military exercises,” Stoltenberg said at a joint news conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“This does not undermine the neutrality of Serbia, which has made it clear that it stays militarily neutral, outside military blocs,” he said, adding that Belgrade remains an important regional actor and a long-term partner for NATO, giving as an example Serbia’s participation in the 30-member alliance’s Partnership for Peace program.
Vucic described Serbia’s cooperation with NATO and the alliance-led KFOR peacekeeping mission to Kosovo as good and correct, adding that he will ask his government to consider resuming Belgrade’s participation in joint exercises “with NATO and other partners.”
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia increased after an attack by an armed group on the Kosovo police in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo on September 24, when one Kosovar police officer and three attackers were killed.
Responsibility for the shoot-out was claimed by Milan Radoicic, the former vice president of Belgrade-backed Serbian List, the largest ethnic Serb party in Kosovo. Radoicic was briefly detained in Serbia and later released pending further proceedings.
NATO announced an increase in its KFOR force days after the shoot-out in Banjska.
Stoltenberg said on November 21 that the perpetrators of the attack must be brought to justice.
“We welcome the fact that Serbia is ready to cooperate,” Stoltenberg said.
Vucic said Serbia welcomes the KFOR’s stepped up presence in Kosovo, claiming that only ethnic Serbs there have been attacked since 2001./Rferl/