MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - NATO is set to
drastically cut back troop numbers in Kosovo, a Belgrade
newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing a source in the
alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
Some 16,000 NATO troops are presently located in Kosovo,
which on February 17 celebrated the first anniversary of its
unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. The NATO
military contingent in Kosovo is the alliance's third largest
deployment after Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The defense ministers of the NATO member countries will
meet in Brussels in June and will most likely make a decision
on the symbolic presence of the [NATO-led] Kosovo Force," the
Politika newspaper quoted the NATO source as saying. "EULEX
[European Union police], local police, and the Kosovo
Protection Corps will be located there and that is sufficient
to uphold peace and stability."
NATO spokesman James Appathurai earlier said that the
alliance was ready to back the launch of a new Kosovo domestic
security force and supervise the standing-down of the Kosovo
Protection Corps.
The principal tasks of the new force - which NATO says will be
lightly armed and have no heavy weapons - will be crisis
response, bomb disposal and civil protection.
UN Security Council Resolution 1244 authorizes the
deployment of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and
the NATO-led Kosovo Force.
Kosovo has been recognized by 54 of the 192 UN member
states, including the United States and most major European
countries. Russia and China have refused to acknowledge its
sovereignty.
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