06.06.2018.

Minister Vulin at SOFEX: Serbia and Vučić pursue a policy of military neutrality

Whenever Balkan countries decided about themselves, the Balkans lived in peace

Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, at the invitation of the Minister of National Defence of the Hellenic Republic Panos Kammenos, attended today the Distinguished Visitors Day at the SOFEX - Salamis Storm 18 multinational exercise that is being held at Nea Peramos, the Hellenic Republic, with participation of members of the Special Forces units of the Serbian Armed Forces, along with members of the armed forces of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. The Distinguished Visitors Day was also attended by Mihai-Viorel Fifor, Minister of National Defence of Romania, and Chief of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, General Andrej Bocev.

Minister Vulin is satisfied with the results of today's exercise. “What is more important than the readiness and training level of our units is the message we have sent today, that is, the Balkan countries want to be together as they have common threats that they can counter together and no one who thinks they can export instability here or exert any kind of religious or other violence, anyone who thinks they can use terrorism to upset the Balkans sees the strong and sure response they will get. Whenever Balkan countries and peoples decided about themselves and their fate, the Balkans lived in peace; the Balkans was the region in which the countries were developing and the people progressed. Whenever others decided about us, when they transferred their conflicts, wars, interests to us, the Balkans turned into a bloodbath. That will never happen again”, Minister Vulin said.

Minister of Defence pointed out that “the Republic of Serbia, its President Aleksandar Vučić, pursues a policy of military neutrality, a policy that does not allow the conflicts of the great to be our conflicts, that wars and conflicts that are not ours will never become a part of our everyday life, and I am sure of the everyday life of the Balkans neither”.

Minister Vulin thanked the representatives of the Hellenic Ministry of Defence, particularly Minister Kammenos, at the organisation of this event, on his initiative and personal desire that the Balkan countries connect to a greater extent and more firmly. He said that the “Republic of Serbia is a safe and reliable partner wherever the challenges arise, whether it is a migrant crisis or countering terrorism. Our greatest interest is that the Balkans be calm, that the Balkan peoples live in peace and harmony”, Minister Vulin said.

The aim of the SOFEX - Salamis Storm 18 multinational live exercise, with the theme of “Crisis response using rapid reaction multinational forces at sea, land and air”, is to improve and develop interoperability of special units of the participating countries. Serbia participated with 15 members from three battalions of the Special Brigade of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Dragan Kužet from the Special Brigade of the Serbian Armed Forces, the leader of the working group, pointed out that “the specificity of this exercise was that it was carried out on land, in the sea, under water and in the air, which showed that we, as members of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Special Brigade, are able to accomplish all the set tasks in all weather and land conditions”. This exercise was a good opportunity to see how other special units in our neighbourhood are doing, how they are equipped, so that we can transfer such experiences during the training of our units – Lieutenant Colonel Kužet pointed out.

The exercise involves more than 100 members of Special Forces of the armed forces of Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, and representatives of the armed forces of Egypt, Israel, Estonia, Jordan, Cyprus, Poland and the United States, participate as observers in the exercise that takes place from 31st May to 9th June.