BRUSSELS – NATO expects Serbian authorities to establish accountability for the Banjska incident from and the attack on KFOR troops, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in Brussels speaking at a joint session of the European Parliament’s Committees on Foreign Affairs and Security and Defence.
Rute said that NATO remains committed to stability in the Western Balkans and reiterated the alliance’s well-known position on the attack against KFOR personnel outside the Zvečan municipal building in May 2023, as well as the clash between an armed group of Serbs and Kosovo police in Banjska in September of the same year.
“I have a personal relationship with President Aleksandar Vučić. We have known each other for many years. But of course, we expect him to establish accountability for what happened a couple of years ago, on two issues. On both of them, he has promised full accountability”, Rutte said.
NATO officials have on several occasions publicly stressed that Serbia should swiftly bring to justice those responsible for the attack on Kosovo police officers in Banjska and KFOR troops in Zvečan.
Speaking in the European Parliament, Mark Rutte also reaffirmed NATO’s support for the dialogue aimed at normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and reiterated the alliance’s longstanding position that it will not allow a security vacuum to emerge in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
