(ANSA) - BELGRADE - The announcement made Tuesday regarding the creation of Kosovo's armed forces has sparked criticism from Belgrade. Serbia has not recognized the independence of his Albanian-majority southern province proclaimed six years ago.

Serbian Premier Ivica Dacic said the institution of an army is not part of an agreement signed on April 19 last year in Brussels on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. ''Authorities in Pristina had already announced such an intention in the past and we had asked NATO and Kfor to guarantee that a potential Kosovan army would not ever enter northern Kosovo without Kfor's approval'', Dacic was quoted as saying in local reports. The northern part of Kosovo has a Serbian majority population. Kosovo's Premier Hashim Thaci announced the decision to transform Kosovo's security forces (FSK) into the armed forces of Kosovo (FAK), creating a ministry of defence. Announcing the decision, Thaci said that one of the tasks of the new armed forces - which will have 5,000 soldiers and 3,000 reservists - will be to preserve the territorial sovereignty of Kosovo. ''It is another transformation benefiting the country, regional security and is in the best interests of Kosovo's Euro-Atlantic integration process'', said the head of government. (ANSA).