06/10/2023 15:26 (current 06/10/2023 20:28)
Austria withdraws soldiers from Kosovo. ©APA/HERBERT PFARRHOFER (symbol image)
Austria will supply fewer troops to the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo in future, the Defense Ministry said on Friday.
In the future, Austria will station around 120 fewer soldiers in Kosovo. The Ministry of Defense stressed that this had nothing to do with the current situation in Kosovo. The change was decided a long time ago.
Training for Austrian soldiers in Battlegroup from 2025
The background is that Austria is providing 500 soldiers for the EU Battle Group 2025. Their training will begin next year. According to the ministry, another company will remain in reserve for the KFOR operation in Kosovo after the planned withdrawal of soldiers in April 2024. Overall, more Austrian soldiers will be available for foreign missions in the future than before, the spokesperson said.
The Austrian contingent of KFOR is stationed in an area of Kosovo that is not affected by the recent unrest. For years, the Kosovo mission was by far the Federal Army’s largest foreign deployment. There are currently 262 soldiers stationed there, seven fewer than in the EUFOR operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which Austria provides the commander and around a quarter of the entire force.
The opposition SPÖ criticized the withdrawal as a “fatal sign”. “Neutral Austria must stand out through its greater commitment to peacekeeping missions, and not through weakening,” demanded SPÖ defense spokesman Robert Laimer in a broadcast on Friday. “Especially when trouble spots arise around the world due to Russian aggression. The federal government itself repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the Western Balkans for Austria, but is not prepared to make its contribution to this essential peacekeeping mission.” ÖVP defense spokesman Friedrich Ofenauer emphasized that Austria’s commitment to Kosovo remains “unshakably strong”. “We continue to support KFOR with the same strength, but with a company as a backup at home,” said Ofenauer.
“Spiegel” first reported that the German government wanted to send more Bundeswehr soldiers to Kosovo. Thus, the Chancellery approved military plans to send 150 soldiers to Pristina next year. A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry confirmed the report to Portal news agency on Friday.
The German Defense Ministry also stressed that the decision had nothing to do with the current tensions in northern Kosovo. This is therefore not an increase in KFOR troops.
28 states involved in mission in Kosovo
Great Britain and Romania, on the other hand, want to reinforce their troops. There are currently around 3,400 KFOR forces stationed in Kosovo. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have increased since September 24, when 30 armed Serbs attacked a Kosovo police station in the north of the country.
There has been a UN Security Council mandate for the operation of KFOR since 1999. A total of 28 states are involved, eight of which are not members of NATO. About 50,000 Serbs live in northern Kosovo, but more than 90 percent of Kosovo’s total population are ethnic Albanians. Both sides blame each other for the recent escalation. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but this is not recognized by either the Belgrade government or the Serb minority in Kosovo.