Serbia to ask NATO to deploy Serb military, police in Kosovo - Vucic

Serbia will ask NATO peacekeepers to let it deploy Serbian military and police in Kosovo, in line with the provisions of a UN Security Council resolution which ended a war there in 1999, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday.

Vucic told a news conference in Belgrade that he would make the request in a letter to the commander of the NATO force KFOR, even though he was certain it would be rejected.

Vucic's remarks came after a spate of incidents between Kosovo authorities and Serbs who constitute a majority in northern Kosovo.

It would be the first time Belgrade requested to deploy troops in Kosovo, under provisions of a U.N. Security Council resolution which ended a 1998-1999 war, in which NATO interceded against Serbia to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.

The resolution says Serbia can deploy up to 1,000 military, police and customs officials to Orthodox Christian religious sites, areas with Serb majorities and border crossings, if such a deployment is approved by KFOR's commander.

At the time it was agreed, Kosovo was internationally recognised as part of Serbia. With the West's backing, Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a declaration not recognised by Serbia.