After a new escalation in the Balkans: will Swiss units soon have to intervene in Kosovo?

Putin wants an unstable Balkans

And just like Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) at the time, Serbian President Vucic now claims: it wasn’t us!

Konrad Clewing, Balkans expert at the Leibniz Institute for Eastern and Southeastern European Research in Regensburg, urges caution with this statement: “The Serbian government has supported the creation of extremist structures among the Serb population in northern Kosovo in recent months. ” The government wants to portray itself to its own public as the guardian of the Serbian nation and undermine Kosovo’s international position, Clewing told Blick.

Whether Putin has a direct hand in this remains speculation, Clewing emphasizes. But: “Russia is very interested in spreading instability in the Balkans and thus weakening NATO in the Southeast European hinterland.” It is also entirely possible that Russian and Serbian intelligence services are directly supporting extremists among Kosovo Serbs.

The risk of escalation is zero, says expert

Daniel Bochsler, Swiss professor of political science at the University of Belgrade, tells Blick: “Vucic maintains good ties with Russia, also to be able to play the West against the Kremlin.” Serbian militias could have carried out the attack on Sunday without Russian support.

Bochsler does not believe the conflict will escalate further. A further escalation would be “above all a war by Serbia against the KFOR, that is to say against NATO troops, of course also with the Swiss contingent. No one involved wants that,” says the professor.

Swiss Swisscoy units in Kosovo were not affected by the attack on Sunday. Banjska is outside Swisscoy’s operational area, a spokesperson explains when asked.

Swiss army members could receive an evacuation order

However, Switzerland could now be indirectly involved in the conflict. For example, if members of the Swiss Swisscoy forces in Kosovo were called up as part of the so-called freedom of movement detachment to clear roadblocks set up in the conflict zone. Switzerland has supported the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo with its own units since 1999. There are currently 195 Swisscoy members stationed in the Balkan country.