Serbia seeks return of its troops to Kosovo as tensions soar

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia has formally demanded that its security troops return to the breakaway former Serbian province of Kosovo, despite warnings from the West that such calls are unlikely to be accepted and only add to tensions in that part of the Balkans. Serbia’s government said in a statement Thursday that it asked NATO-led peacekeepers stationed in Kosovo since 1999, when the Western alliance pushed out Serb troops from the region, to allow the return of up to 1,000 Serbian army and police officers to the Serb-populated north of the country. Serbian officials claim a U.N. resolution that formally ended the Kosovo war allows for Serbian troops to return to Kosovo.