Germany and the US have defended Kosovo's "sovereign right" to create an army, despite Serbia's abhorrence of the move.
"Kosovo, as a sovereign state, has the right to create regular armed forces," German foreign ministry spokesman Rainer Breul said in Berlin on Friday (14 December).
The US embassy in Pristina voiced more full-throated "support for the gradual transition ... to a force with a territorial defence mandate, as is Kosovo's sovereign right".
The US had earlier ...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.