20.06.2021.
Stefanović for Sky News: We are neutral, that is our advantage
The British Sky News assessed that the British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace’s recent visit to Serbia, hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, was a sign of the UK’s desire to strengthen ties with a country it had not always seen eye to eye with.
“Now Britain’s troops train alongside Serbian forces. The two sides fight together against fake terrorists. This is the first time a British Defence Secretary has visited Serbia. It's a sign of the UK's desire to strengthen ties with a country it hasn't always seen eye to eye with, in particular during the Kosovo war more than 20 years ago. Rewind back even further though and they fought on the same side during both world wars. A shared history that's not forgotten“, said Deborah Haynes reporting from the Platinum Wolf multinational exercise which was held at the South Base near Bujanovac.When asked by the Sky News journalist who Serbia preferred to train with - with British or Russian forces, Minister Stefanović replied - with both.
“We are neutral, so we don’t have to prefer to train with either, we can choose both and that’s our advantage”, said Stefanović. A total of 524 members of the Serbian Armed Forces and 10 partner countries’ forces participated in this year's "Platinum Wolf" exercise, which was conducted from 3 to 18 June at the base near Bujanovac.
This year, members of the Greek and French Armed Forces also took part for the first time, while besides 259 members of the Serbian Armed Forces, the British contingent was the most numerous with 69 troops.
When asked by Sky News whether Russia might eye this renewed friendship between the two countries with suspicion, the British Defence Secretary answered: "The Balkans matter for the security of Europe. We don't come here to cause problems. We come here to provide partnership," said Wallace, who was on a two-day visit to Serbia on 16 and 17 June.
VIDEOGALLERY20.06.2021
mp4 (247,01 MB)Sky New's news story
