MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian peacekeepers will be withdrawn from Bosnia, Herzegovina and Kosovo within the next two months.
"Russian peacekeeping units will be pulled out from the Balkans within approximately two months," Chief-of-Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Anatoly Kvashnin said at a Thursday briefing at the Defense Ministry.
The decision was made by the Russian leaders on a proposal from the Defense Ministry, he stressed. "There are no longer any military tasks in that region, and they are unlikely to appear in the near future," Kvashnin said.
The present-day tasks in the region are mostly for the police, he stressed. "There is an international police force, which includes Russia, there," he added.
According to Kvashnin, the peacekeepers' withdrawal will have a positive effect for Russia. "We have spent serious money on the region, and they will be used for domestic needs after the withdrawal," he said.
More than USD26m is spent on Russia's peacekeeping activities in the Balkans a year, the general said.