ARMENIA TO SEND MORE PEACEKEEPERS TO KOSOVO

RIA Novosti
April 8 2008
Russia

YEREVAN, April 8 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s Constitutional Court has
approved an increase in the country’s peacekeeping forces in Kosovo.

Thirty-four Armenian peacekeepers have been serving in Serbia’s
breakaway province since February 12, 2004 as part of a Greek
peacekeeping battalion.

An Armenian infantry regiment will now be sent to Kosovo.

Kosovo, with a 90% ethnic Albanian majority, declared its unilateral
independence from Serbia on February 17. The U.S. and the vast majority
of European Union states have since acknowledged its sovereignty.

Armenia, a former Soviet republic and a UN member state, has not so
far recognized Kosovo’s independence.

Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally, has refused to recognize the
"world’s newest state" and has pledged to block any attempt by Kosovo
to seek UN membership.