14.06.2017.
Minister of Defence at the Exercise “Slavic Brotherhood”
The Minister of Defence, Zoran Đorđević is visiting Belorussia where he attended the final activities of the trilateral exercise “Slavic Brotherhood 2017” and the reception organised on the occasion of the arrival of honorary guests by the Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov.
Accompanied by his Belorussian colleague, Minister Đorđević visited a camp where the members of the Serbian Armed Forces participating in the exercise were accommodated, and then at the training area of the 38thGuards Air Assault Brigadein the vicinity of the town of Brest, over the last night he observed solving a complicated task of freeing a lock from terrorists and resolution of a hostage situation, as well as the action of preventing terrorists’ breach, with night shooting and night parachuting jumps of the members of the Armed Forces of Belorussia and Russia and Special Brigade of the Serbian Armed Forces. The Exercise activities were attended by Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Lieutenant General Aleksandr Zhuravlev and the Chief of Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Anatoly Sidorov.
Minister Đorđević congratulated the participants of the exercise on successfully executed tasks and added that he was proud of supreme level of training of the members of Serbian Armed Forces, who side by side with their Belorussian and Russian colleagues demonstrated their readiness to discharge complex combat tasks.
In the continuation of the visit, the Minister of Defence visited 38thGuards Air Assault Brigade, where he witnessed a segment of Special units training, and 115thArtillery Regiment which possesses the system S-300.The Serbian and Belorussian Ministers of Defence assessed that the exercise “Slavic Brotherhood 2017” matched the expectations and that it was an excellent modality of cooperation that enables the exchange of experiences among the members of elite military units. Đorđevićand Ravkov agreed that defence cooperation had been fundamentally enhanced in the previous period and that it had achieved a high level of the overall and political relations between the two friendly nations.
Minister Đorđević reiterated that strengthening operational and functional capabilities of our Armed Forces is the primary goal of the Ministry of Defence.“One of the steps in that direction is more active participation in the work of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. That is why we intend in the near future to change our observer status in that Organisation into the status of an active participant” Đorđevićstated.
During the stay in Belorussia, the Minister of Defence visited the Memorial complex “Brest Hero-Fortress” and laid a wreath at the Monument to the fallen defenders of the Brest Fortress with the guard of honour of the Special Brigade members.
The trilateral exercise “Slavic Brotherhood 2017” started on 6th June at the training area of the Belorussian Armed Forces near the town of Brest and it will last until 15th June. The aim of the exercise, which involves the participation of around 400 members of Belorussian Armed Forces, 250 members of the Russian Federation Armed Forces and 50 members of the Special Unit of the Serbian Armed Forces, is to enhance interoperability, mutual understanding and capabilities for the conduct of multinational operations.
