March 7 (SeeNews) - Kosovo’s finance ministry said it has set up a security fund to support the country's military force in view of heightened geopolitical tensions amid the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The opening of the fund was authorized by Kosovo’s prime minister Albin Kurti in agreement with international partners, the finance ministry said in a press release last week.
The finance ministry has already opened a bank account for the receipt of money intended for the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).
On March 1, Kurti authorized the opening of the security fund and invited the citizens of Kosovo, the Kosovo diaspora, as well as other donors to contribute money into the fund.
Kosovo’s budget has allocated 100 million euro ($109 million) to the country’ security force in the 2022 budget.
In December 2018, Kosovo's parliament adopted three laws for initiating a process of KSF transformation into a professional army. The decision of the parliament in Pristina was backed by the U.S., while NATO warned that it was ill-timed, as it risked heightening tensions with Serbia which does not recognise the independence of Kosovo.
($ = 0.91418 euro)