Russia to withdraw its peacekeepers from the Balkans

The withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the Balkans will positively influence the financing of the Russian Defence Ministry, believes Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces colonel-general Anatoly Kvashnin.

"The state treasury spends $26,900,000 a year on the Balkans. This sum is planned to be used for the development of the Russian army and military training of troops," said Kvashnin.

According to him, the withdrawal will begin in the coming months, and now its schedule being worked out.

The general also stated that the country's leadership made a decision, on the proposal of the defence ministry, to withdraw Russian peacekeepers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from Kosovo.

"There are no military tasks in this region at the moment. And the military threats are not expected to come again. There are purely police problems there. Peacekeeping police forces have been created to solve them, which also include the units of the Russian Interior Ministry," Kvashnin said in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta.