SERBIA REQUESTS NATO GO SLOW ON KFOR DRAWDOWN

C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000059 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020 TAGS: PREL NATO PGOV MOPS MARR KV YI SUBJECT: SERBIA REQUESTS NATO GO SLOW ON KFOR DRAWDOWN Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission John Heffern. Reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d). ¶1. (C) Serbian Ambassador to NATO Milinkovic approached USNATO Deputy Chief of Mission Heffern on February 8 to express Belgrade's concern that NATO intended to draw down KFOR too quickly. Amb. Milinkovic said he had heard from the Defense Ministerial meeting in Istanbul that NATO was considering moving in "60 days" from Gate 1 (10,000 troops) to Gate 2 (5,500 troops) of deterrent presence. He said Belgrade was alarmed at such a prospect, which it viewed as potentially destabilizing to Kosovo and the region. ¶2. (C) DCM Heffern responded that the U.S. shared Serbian concerns and favored a gradual, conditions-based approach to the KFOR drawdown. Heffern relayed that the U.S. would like to see the hard political tasks tackled while KFOR still had sufficient forces on the ground. Amb. Milinkovic said Belgrade strongly endorsed such an approach. He said that in Belgrade's view the hard political tasks, as well as the transfer of the first few KFOR-guarded patrimonial sites to the Kosovo Police, should be addressed before movement to Gate 2. ¶3. (C) EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) Head of Mission de Kermabon offered a different view at a French-hosted dinner on February 9. While very cautious about the timing of unfixing sites and working issues in the north, de Kermabon repeated several times that KFOR's drawdown should "advance." DAALDER