PRISTINA, October 6 /ATA/ – Germany will send around 150 more troops to Kosovo in April next year to join the KFOR mission there, a spokesman of the German Defence Ministry announced on Friday.
About 4500 soldiers in total are currently stationed in Kosovo as part of the NATO-led peacekeeping KFOR mission.
The spokesperson stated that the decision had nothing to do with current tensions in northern Kosovo and instead was taken to compensate for the withdrawal of Austrian troops.
He noted that the additional German troops will not increase the overall number of KFOR troops in Kosovo.
Germany has currently 71 soldiers in Kosovo.
“The decision about a change in the balance of forces at KFOR is always made through a multinational decision-making process,” the German official said when asked how Germany would act should the situation escalated before next April.
KFOR Commander Angelo Michele Ristuccia announced earlier today that additional troops will reinforce KFOR presence in Kosovo.
Great Britain confirmed on October that it will send 400 additional soldiers to Kosovo.
Ristuccia said that Romania and other ally countries will send reinforcements.
He said that incidents in recent months, mostly in northern Kosovo, show that the situation remains unstable and could further escalate very quickly.
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