19.09.2017.
General Diković at the "West 2017" exercise in Russia
Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Ljubisa Diković, is on an official visit to the Russian Federation, where he attended the execution of the active phase of the exercise of the Russian and Belarusian armed forces "West 2017", at the Luzhsky training ground, yesterday.
General Diković had separate meetings with the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation General of the Army Valery Gerasimov and the commander of the Western Military District, who holds the main responsibility for the execution of the exercise on the Russian side, General Andrey Valeryevich Kartapolov.General Diković discussed with his Russian colleagues the improvement of bilateral military cooperation between Serbia and Russia, current security issues in the world, and the expansion of our country's cooperation with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), primarily in the field of training.
The Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces thanked General Gerasimov for Russia's assistance in equipping our armed forces, adding that the Serbian Armed Forces will continue to develop its capabilities in cooperation with all partner countries, such as the Russian Federation. Our military is primarily interested in carrying out joint exercises, training and advancement at different levels, and particularly important are numerous specialist courses in Russia, where the members of the Serbian Armed Forces are being trained.
The joint strategic exercise "West 2017" is being realised from 14th to 20th September in the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Exercises of this type are carried out once every two years and represent the final phase of joint training with the aim of checking the capability for the cooperation of the two armed forces in the defence of the Federal State of the Russian Federation and Belarus. The exercise involves about 13,000 soldiers with about 70 airplanes and helicopters, 680 units of technique and 10 ships from the composition of the Baltic Fleet.
