Nato chief assures Western Balkans of alliance support

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte speaking during a news conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Monday (Armin Durgut/AP)

In his first trip to the once-volatile Western Balkans, Nato’s secretary-general underscored the alliance’s “steadfast commitment” to its security and urged Kosovo and Serbia to be flexible in their normalisation talks.

Mark Rutte came to Kosovo after his first stop in Bosnia a day earlier, reassuring the country of the military alliance’s “unwavering” support for its territorial integrity after a series of Bosnian Serb separatist moves raised tensions nearly 30 years after the end of a bloody war.