14.09.2018.
Lieutenant General Milan Mojsilović is the New Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces
This evening, President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces Aleksandar Vučić and Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin held a meeting with representatives of military leadership in the Great Hall of the Old General Staff in Belgrade.
On that occasion, under a Decree of the President of the Republic, and at personal request, yesterday’s Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Ljubiša Diković was retired. Under a Decree of the President, Major General Milan Mojsilović was exceptionally promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as the new Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces. Up till now he was posted as Assistant Minister of Defence for Defence Policy.After this evening’s meeting, Brigadier General Petar Cvetković has been promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed as Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces. The position of Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces has been vacant since March last year, when Lieutenant General Jovica Draganić was retired under a Decree of the President. Colonel Đuro Jovanić has been appointed as Director of Military Security Agency.
Brigadier Generals Mile Jelić, Duško Žarković and Ilija Todorov have been exceptionally promoted to Major General rank.
Major General Goran Radovanović has been appointed as the new Dean of the University of Defence, Major General Bojan Zrnić is the new Head of the Military Academy, Major General Mladen Vuruna is the new Head of Department for Defence Technologies, Major General Mile Jelić has been assigned to the position of Director of Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier General Zoran Stojković is Director of the Military Intelligence Agency, colonel Slađan Stamenković is Commander of the Third Army Brigade, Colonel Ljubiša Đolović is the new Head of Telecommunications and IT Department in the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and Colonel Miroslav Talijan, who has been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, has been assigned to the duty of the Special Brigade Commander.The following colonels were promoted to the rank of Brigadier General: Uglјeša Jovičić, Rajko Milovanović, Vladeta Baltić, Želјko Kuzmanović, Slobodan Stopa, Aleksandar Bjelić, Želјko Bilić, Zoran Stojković, and Predrag Grbić who has retired from his professional military service.
Colonel Dragan Dinčić was exceptionally promoted into Brigadier General, while Brigadier General Zoran Veličković has retired from professional military service at his request.
At the media conference held after the meeting, President Vučić spoke about the new personnel decisions, equipment and the overall state in the armed forces.
- In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and following numerous consultations with the Ministry of Defence and leadership of the Serbian Armed Forces, I have issued several decrees and decisions on appointment, nomination and retirement. First of all, I wish to inform you that I have accepted the request of the Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Ljubiša Diković to be retired – said the President of the Republic thanking the General on his honourable, self-sacrificing and dedicated attitude which he had demonstrated, and for the love he had showed towards the fatherland.
He reminded that General Diković had been arrested during the armed conflicts by the enemy forces in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He stressed that General Diković honourably, bravely and courageously had confronted the NATO Aggression in 1999, and that he had been one of the officers who had spent the longest time as Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces.- I am very grateful to General Diković for the job that he has done, for having seriously and responsibly worked on the modernisation of the Serbian Armed Forces over the previous years, on the enhancement of their combat readiness, and for his life-long dedication to the Republic of Serbia and Serbian people – said the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, adding that it was precisely because of the achieved results that he had passed a Decree to decorate General Ljubiša Diković with the Medal of Karađorđe’s Star of the First Degree highlighting that it was the highest decoration that a soldier had ever won.
He pointed out that the decoration represented not only the honour to General Diković, but that it was an obligation for those who were to come after him.- These are great changes which are expected to bring additional, new energy in the forthcoming period, even faster modernisation and strengthening of the Serbian Armed Forces that should be a deterring factor for every potential aggressor of our country. We are not preparing for any conflict or wars with anyone, but we have to have trained, serious, well equipped and armed military capable of responding to any potential aggressor at any time – stated President Vučić and added that accordingly, our arms and military equipment had been multiply enhanced over the previous several years, but he underlined that they were still satisfied.
- We particularly have to ensure a greater influx of men in the Serbian Armed Forces in the period to come. That is why General Mojsilović will be faced with a difficult, serious and responsible work. I am confident that he will always have support of General Diković and all other men loyal to the state, honourable officers to whom the state of Serbia has always been more important and significant than anybody’s interests – he said and added that the situation in the world was such that it was not easy to predict events.- I do not have to tell you how difficult the situation of Serbia is, both because of the relations with the Albanians, the problem that we have with Kosovo and Metohija, and because of the fact that some in the region perceive the Serbs living in their countries as a disturbing factor and they often desire to portray Serbia and our people as a disturbing element, although we just want for our people to be “a house lord in his own house”, to have the right to their life like everybody else non posing a threat to anyone’s territorial integrity, not aspiring towards someone else’s territories, only wishing to protect what is ours – Vučić sent a message.
He expressed his belief that the members of the Serbian Armed Forces would discharge their job honourably and well, that they would fight for Serbia, that the people in Serbia would have confidence in that institution that they respected, appreciated, loved and believed in the most, like it had been the case previously.The President thanked everyone once again, emphasising that he was honoured for having had the opportunity to cooperate with General Diković in the previous six years.
- I hope that you, General Mojsilović, will discharge this great and important work for the future of Serbia and its armed forces – concluded the President congratulating the officers on their new appointments and wishing them success in the work on their new duties.
