PHOTOS: A lot of Hungarian soldiers returned from Kosovo

Ensuring peace in the Western Balkans is one of the most important security policy interests for Hungary and a trying task, a state secretary of the defence ministry said at a Hungarian army base in Kecskémet, in central Hungary, welcoming a Hungarian unit on return from a KFOR mission on Sunday.

“Considering Hungary’s security policy interests, Hungarian troops have been participating in operations in the Balkans since 1995,” Tamás Vargha said, adding that Hungary had contributed staff officers and army contingents to NATO’s KFOR mission since 1999. He noted that the more than 100 troops who performed their task on a high level in the KFOR Tactical Reserve Battalion have further strengthened the respect for the Hungarian armed forces.

Addressing the ceremony, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, Commander of the Hungarian Armed Forces, said that “members of the reserve battalion have again proved to Hungary’s allies that Hungarian troops can be counted on”. Troops of the battalion have performed 250 tasks since last December when they were assigned to serve to strengthen NATO forces as tension ran high between Kosovo Serbs and local Albanians in northern Kosovo, he said.