BELGRADE, January 10. /TASS/. NATO will hold its Defender Europe 23 military exercise on the territory of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo next year, its defense minister Armend Mehaj said on Tuesday.
"Our country will be among the states hosting these exercises. More than 1,300 members of the Kosovo Security Force will take part. The main goal pursued by the KSF in these maneuvers will be to raise interoperability, [and] test the readiness of the infantry, service support and medical support," Mehaj wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by Meta recognized as extremist in Russia).
"Side by side with US forces and other allies, the Kosovo Security Force is completing the planning stage of the Defender Europe 23 exercise," the minister added.
In his words, the KSF planning group, along with delegates from the US and other NATO members, is now taking part in the final four-day planning conference in Budapest, Hungary.
Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s former defense minister who now heads the country’s key special service, the Security Intelligence Agency, said earlier that the only reason to grant NATO membership to Kosovo in the future would be "a provocation directed against Serbia.".