Milica Stojanovic and Perparim Isufi Belgrade, Pristina
BIRN January 11, 202417:24
After meeting the US ambassador to Serbia on Thursday, President Vucic says he was 'disappointed' to hear Kosovo’s request for anti-tank missiles has been forwarded to Congress – but will still 'work to preserve Serbian-American relations'.
US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill (left) and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (right) at the meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, January 11 2024. Photo: Instagram/buducnostsrbijeav
The US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill told Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that the US has sent Kosovo’s request for the purchase of Javalin anti-tank missiles to Congress.
“As Ambassador Hill stated, the State Department will send Pristina’s request to the US Congress, which begins the official procedure,” it said in a press release that Vucic’s office issued after the meeting on Thursday.
Vucic “said that this information is a big disappointment for Serbia, but that our country, together with the US, will work to preserve Serbian-American relations”, the press release noted.
“It is of the utmost importance for us that peace in the region is not disturbed and that Serbia will continue to act responsibly and contribute to stability in the Balkans,” Vucic said, according to the press release.
Kosovo’s Minister of Defence, Ejup Maqedonci, confirmed that the government has a cooperation agreement with the US for directs purchases through Foreign Military Sales program.
“Military purchases, including anti-tank missile system ‘Javelin’, but also other arms systems are foreseen as part of this program. On ‘Javelin’ system the request has been sent and it has been received by the US. It is now confirmed that the request will be proceeded to the Congress by State Department for final approval,” Maqedonci told BIRN.
On December 13, 2023, Kosovo decided to add another 40 million euros to its defence budget, raising it to more than 200 million euros. It was not specified where the additional budget will be allocated.
In July last year, Prime Minister Albin Kurti published photos showing himself in front of a Turkish Bayraktar drone which he said Kosovo had purchased from Turkey. Kurti did not specify how many such drones Kosovo had purchased but said that in two years of his mandate as PM, Kosovo had “increased its number of soldiers by 80 per cent and increased the military budget by 100 per cent”.
Founded in 2009, after Kosovo declared independence, the Kosovo Security Force’s original mandate was to conduct crisis response operations in Kosovo and abroad, civil protection operations within Kosovo, and assist in dealing with natural disasters.
The law adopted by Kosovo’s parliament in 2018 provides for an active force of up to 5,000, a significant increase from the 3,000 allowed under its previous mandate, plus a reserve component of not more than 3,000 members.
NATO maintains its own peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, which started in June 1999, after 78 days of airstrikes forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw Serbian police and troops from Kosovo.
In May 2022 it was announced Albania was one of several countries that ordered Javelin anti-tank missiles. In a press release, US company Lockheed Martin said purchases by Albania, Norway, Latvia and Thailand were part of an order worth 309 million dollars.
On Lockheed Martin’s website, the Javelin is described as “a single man-portable fire-and-forget medium-range antitank weapon system designed to defeat all known and projected threat armor”.
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