Lithuania to withdraw KFOR troops
Lithuania has announced their decision to withdraw their remaining KFOR UN Kosovo Forces from Kosovo.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, April 09, 2009
The view from Vilnius is that the stable situation in Kosovo is increasingly improving, and the economic crisis is putting a strain on the budget.
The news of Lithuania's withdrawal comes just days after Spain announced their decision to remove 600 troops from KFOR.
The UK has also stated that they may withdraw troops as well, due to the financial crisis.
Lithuania's decision to withdraw troops comes days after 20 additional troops trained at Panevezys were deployed to Prishtina, Kosovo. KFOR-20 will replace KFOR-19 deployed in Afghanistan since October 2008.
Lithuanian troops will join Polish-Ukrainian Battalion POLUKRBAT. The troops will be based in the US Camp Bondsteel near the city of Ferizaj/Urosevac in southern Kosovo.
Since 1999, approximately 900 Lithuanian military members have been deployed as part of the KFOR mission, 600 as a part of POLUKRBAT.
