The KFOR international peacekeeping force has rejected the Serbian government's request for the return of up to 1,000 Serbian military and police personnel in Kosovo in line with UN Resolution 1244, the Office of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

At the height of tensions over barricades in the predominantly Serbian northern Kosovo, on 16 December 2022 the Serbian government presented a request to KFOR to approve the return of between 100 and 1,000 Serbian security personnel to Kosovo. Announcing the request at the time, Vucic presumed that it would be rejected.

Resolution 1244 of June 1999, which demanded an end to the war in Kosovo and withdrawal of Serbian military and police forces from Kosovo, provides for a possible return of Serbian personnel “under the supervision of the international security presence and (…) limited to a small agreed number (hundreds, not thousands)”.

The negative response from KFOR was expected, Vučić told the pro-government TV Pink channel on Sunday.

They replied that there was no need for Serbian military personnel to return to the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. They invoked Resolution 1244 and underlined their role, but they did not refer to the part of the resolution that allows the return of our forces, Vucic said.

Although the barricades in northern Kosovo were removed before New Year’s Eve, tensions were only partly defused and incidents continued.

Two young Serbs were wounded in southern Kosovo on Friday after they were shot at from a moving vehicle. The incident was strongly condemned by both Belgrade and Priština.