Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Thursday accused Serbia of showing “aggression” after its military carried out drills near the border, while NATO’s peacekeeping mission said the exercises posed no threat to regional security.
Speaking at a government meeting in Pristina, Kurti said Kosovo was “deeply concerned” by what he described as an unjustified military display involving helicopters and paratroopers in areas inhabited by ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia, close to the Kosovo border.
He said the drills took place near homes, schools and medical centers, without providing further details, and described them as “dangerous displays of aggression.”
NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR), however, said it had been notified in advance by Belgrade that the Serbian Armed Forces would conduct planned exercises near the southern boundary.
“This is a routine activity conducted within Serbian territory and does not pose a threat to security or stability in the region,” KFOR said in a statement, adding it continues to closely monitor the situation along the administrative boundary line.
The drills, carried out in a village in southern Serbia’s Bujanovac municipality, included paratroopers deployed from helicopters, according to KFOR.
Kosovo and Serbia share a roughly 400-kilometre boundary, with KFOR responsible for overall security along the line, while Kosovo police patrol areas up to one kilometre from the boundary under existing arrangements.
Kurti called on the international community to “punish Serbia” for what he described as destabilising behaviour, linking the exercises to what he said was inflammatory rhetoric from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and recent arms purchases from China and Russia.
Earlier this month, Vucic said Serbia was preparing for a potential attack from what he described as an emerging alliance between Kosovo, Albania and Croatia, a claim denied by all three countries.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have remained high since 2023, when Pristina accused Belgrade of backing attacks in northern Kosovo, including one that killed a police officer. Serbia has denied involvement.
European Union-mediated talks aimed at normalising relations between the two have stalled despite a 2023 agreement, with no recent high-level meetings reported.