Washington, Oct 3 (EFE).- The United States said Tuesday it has information that Serbian troops have begun to withdraw from the border with Kosovo, National Security spokesman John Kirby, reported at a White House press conference.
Four days ago Kirby had denounced the unprecedented advance of Serbian troops in the area and called on both sides to resume dialogue.
“Since we stated publicly that we had seen Serbian forces on the border, we have also seen them start to move those forces away, and that’s a good thing. That will help de-escalate the tensions. It won’t eliminate them, but it’ll help de-escalate them,” he said.
Kirby also reiterated that the United States has a “small number” of troops in KFOR (NATO Forces Kosovo) and that the number is not expected to change.
Serbia on Monday denied it had any plans to intervene militarily in Kosovo and called Western expressions of concern about an alleged extraordinary deployment of its armed forces on the border “inappropriate.”
However, it did not rule out that the army could be ordered to enter the country, which was until 2008 a Serbian province.
“If the Serbian army should ever receive an order from the president of Serbia, as its commander-in-chief, to enter Kosovo with its units, it will carry it out effectively and professionally, successfully, but we would announce it to KFOR beforehand,” Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević told a news conference in Belgrade on Monday. EFE
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