NATO chief: We still expect Serbia to determine responsibility for Banjska

2026-02-11 21:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has reminded Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i? that the alliance is still awaiting determination of responsibility for the events that occurred in Kosovo during 2023.

"I personally, but also as a NATO representative, am in close contact with the Serbian president. We are still waiting for him to determine responsibility for what happened in 2023 in Banjska and for other events during 2023 ," Rutte said.

Secretary Rutte made a similar request for the determination of responsibility for Banjska at the end of January. He added that NATO, through its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, is closely following all developments in Kosovo.

In September 2023, a group of armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police in Banjska, Zve?an, killing one police officer. Three other Serb attackers were also killed in the exchange of fire.

Kosovo politician and businessman Milan Radoi? claimed responsibility for the attack, and has since been in Serbia, where he has not been prosecuted to date.

Kosovo is seeking his extradition, as the Special Prosecution has already filed an indictment in this case and Radoi?i? is part of the indictment.

Meanwhile, regarding the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he has reiterated that he will not allow a security vacuum to be created in this country.

Rutte made these statements on the eve of the scheduled meeting of defense ministers of NATO member countries, which will be held on Thursday, February 12. The ministers will discuss military support for Ukraine, which is facing a war started by Russia almost five years ago.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is trying to break the Ukrainian people, hoping to weaken their resolve. But the Ukrainian people have shown many times that they will not be broken,” Rutte stressed.

Otherwise, this will be the second ministerial meeting in which secretaries from the United States do not participate. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has sent his deputy, Elbridge Colby, to Brussels. In December last year, at the meeting of foreign ministers of the alliance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also absent.

Secretary Rutte said he does not see this as a sign that the United States is no longer committed to its allies.

"I don't believe in that at all. I must say that my conversations and contacts with the top American leadership, whether it's the White House, the Pentagon or the State Department, are as intense as ever. These people operate all over the world. Of course NATO is important, but they also have to operate in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific, so I fully understand that the top ministers can't always be here ," he said. /REL