Kalinak: Slovakia to Rejoin KFOR Mission in Kosovo (2)

Belgrade/Bratislava, November 21 (TASR-correspondent) - After a 15-year hiatus, Slovakia will return to the KFOR international peacekeeping force by sending 60 soldiers, with a mandate that might later be extended gradually up to 150 soldiers, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak declared during his visit to Serbia on Wednesday, TASR learnt from its special correspondent. "The escalation of tension (between Kosovo and Serbia) is obvious. The situation hasn't been resolved yet in a peaceful way, hence it's important for us to assume our share of responsibility as well," Kalinak told the journalists. He reiterated Slovakia's stance, which doesn't recognise Kosovo as an independent state. Slovakia used to be involved in the KFOR mission in 1999-2010 and a total of 2,004 members of the Slovak Armed Forces participated in it to date. Kalinak also commented on the current situation in Ukraine, which has been defending itself against the Russian invasion for more than 1,000 days. He reiterated that countries that decided to grant Kiev permission to use their weapons to strike targets deep in Russia have apparently become direct participants in the conflict. He finds such a decision rather dangerous. "It goes quite an extra mile beyond the defence of Ukrainian soil," he warned. As for Ukraine carrying out military operations in Russia's Kursk region, that is a development of the war front situation and neither side can be blamed for that, believes Kalinak. He underlined that the war was started by Russia. Slovakia carefully monitors the situation and any potential security risks to its population and property with respect to Russia's alleged launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that targeted the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro during its night attack. In Kalinak's view, Moscow is sending a signal this way, which must be "taken into consideration". When asked by TASR how he views the involvement of North Korean troops in the conflict, Kalinak replied that this is a bilateral matter between Pyongyang and Moscow. He added that according to his information, the North Korean soldiers are still located within Russia. "The situation would most certainly change, if they crossed the border and launched operations on Ukrainian soil. That, however, hasn't been the case thus far," he said. mf/mcs