Kosovo to Deploy New US Anti-Tank Weapons as Serbia Bristles

Gresa Kraja
·2 min read
41

(Bloomberg) -- Kosovo’s defense chief said the Balkan nation will be better defended with an influx of US-supplied anti-tank missiles four months after a violent clash in the country’s north dramatically escalated tensions with Serbia.

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Defense Minister Ejup Maqedonci said he’s confident the delivery of Javelin anti-tank missiles and equipment will clear US Congress after the State Department approved the $75 million purchase on Jan. 11. The deal also involves training for the Kosovo Security Force, he said.

“All these systems are acquired to establish sufficient capacity for Kosovo to defend itself in the event of an invasion — or any other threat,” Maqedonci said in an interview in Pristina on Monday.

The timing of the purchase, which has stirred protest by Serbian authorities, could compound the strain between the two countries 25 years after a NATO intervention removed Serbian forces from Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. International efforts to push Belgrade and Pristina toward normalizing relations have so far come up short.

Tensions boiled over after Sept. 24, when an armed group of some 30 Serb militants engaged in a daylong shootout with Kosovar police, leaving four dead, including an ethnic Albanian policeman. Maqedonci reinforced Kosovo’s position that Serbian “state structures” backed the attack, which was aimed at “forcibly annexing” parts of Serb-dominated northern Kosovo.

Serbia has denied any involvement and rejected accusations that it plans an invasion, saying that it works with NATO’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, to defuse tensions and improve security.

Still, the escalation has seen Belgrade’s forces move closer to the border with Kosovo and a standoff between the two countries. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti have made no progress, even after both were cajoled by European Union leaders on the margins of a summit meeting in October.

The US weapons deal includes 246 Javelin missiles and 24 launch units, as well as training and equipment, as part of a joint venture between US-based Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missile Systems, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. Anti-tank weaponry such as Javelins gained prominence in Ukraine’s war with Russia.

Vucic called the arms sale to Kosovo a “great disappointment for Serbia” after meeting with US ambassador Christopher Hill in Belgrade on Thursday.

“But our country, together with US, will work on preserving Serbian-American relations,” he said in a statement.

--With assistance from Misha Savic.

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