The Celje barracks saw a line up of 85 members of the Slovenian army's 20th motorised battalion on Thursday, marking the group's departure for Kosovo, where it will replace the 36 Slovenian soldiers participating in NATO's crisis response mission.
The increase in numbers means that more than 200 Slovenian soldiers will be stationed in Kosovo from now on. Apart from the members of the motorised battalion, the Slovenian contingent in Kosovo also includes a military police squad, a national support unit and commissioned and non-commissioned officers participating in the KFOR command.
In February next year the current contingent will also be joined by the entire 10th motorised battalion with about 700 members. The battalion's deployment will also be the first case of Slovenia taking over its own area of control in a NATO mission for a period of six months.
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