The Attack | VPRO Documentary

According to NATO's new Secretary General, Mark Rutte, Europe must prepare for war. In a new episode of 'Frontlinie', Bram Vermeulen investigates where the next war in Europe could break out.

He ends up in Kosovo, because since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, tensions have been rising there too. Rutte's NATO troops are stationed there, directly opposite the Serbs. But that mission is under pressure now that US President Donald Trump is threatening to leave NATO. And then what?

Although the war in Kosovo ended more than 25 years ago after NATO drove the Serbian army out of Kosovo, the conflict continues to smolder in the north of the country, where a small Serbian minority still lives. The Ibar River not only separates the Kosovar Albanians from the Serbs, but also acts as an Iron Curtain between the Albanian friends of the West and the Serbian friends of Russia.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, tensions have also been rising in Kosovo. There are attacks on government buildings almost daily. Kosovo's main water canal was also blown up. The Albanian Kosovar government compares this attack to the Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. Serbia sent troops to the border with Kosovo.

The Kosovar government suspects nationalist Serbs of carrying out attacks in order to undermine the new state. Serbs reject the allegations and accuse the Kosovar government of exploiting the attacks to further marginalize the Serbian minority. With thousands of police officers occupying Serbian neighborhoods in the north, Serbs fear an impending war.

The only ones who can prevent this are the NATO troops stationed in Kosovo, some of whom are under the American flag. It is NATO's longest-running active mission in Europe, but this mission is under pressure now that US President Donald Trump is threatening to withdraw from NATO. And then what?

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