11.02.2020.
Minister Vulin: We have come and will always come to be with our people and I am sorry that it is so terrible to see the Serbian uniform in Montenegro
- Anything that happens in Croatia, sooner or later, happens in Montenegro as well. Thus, in Croatia, they also forbade our cadets from coming in uniforms to pay homage to the Jasenovac victims, so we have come to a situation that in Montenegro, the Serbian uniform is apparently a threat and the Serbian uniform must not be seen. I am not sure that some other army would not be allowed to enter Montenegro in uniforms, that it would not be allowed to appear here, but it seems that when it is Serbian, then it is a problem and everything that is Serbian is always a problem – Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin said leading a delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces that has laid a wreath and attended the commemoration in Rovci near Kolašin in Montenegro at the monument to Pavle Bulatović, the Federal Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, who was assassinated in Belgrade 20 years ago.
- We asked the competent Montenegrin ministry to issue appropriate permission to our delegation, we asked for it on Friday, and on Monday, at about 2:30 pm, we were told that everything was fine and that it would be as we asked. And then around 9:30 pm, they called our ambassador to tell him that everything is permitted, except the uniform. And when our ambassador asked why, they answered that the Ministry of Culture said so. Here, I am glad that we have learned what the Ministry of Culture in Montenegro serves for and we have learned that, apparently, everything that is Serbian is a problem here - so the Serbian uniform is banned - Minister Vulin emphasised.
I believe, Minister Vulin added, that they hoped that this would stop the delegation coming, so they would give up the trip, they hoped that the Serbian minister of defence, with the delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, would not be at this place today.
- We wanted to come, to be with the Serbian people, to remind ourselves of our murdered friend and our murdered compatriot Pavle Bulatovic and that is why we came. And just for you to know, there are also General Milovanović, Colonel Mimović, Colonel Ranković and Colonel Zogović, and you can dress them as you wish, these are Serbian generals and Serbian colonels, these are Serbian officers. So, if it was not for us to come, we came and will always come to be with our people. I am sorry that it is so terrible to see the Serbian uniform in Montenegro and that it should not be here. I expected this from Croatia, but I did not expect something like that in Montenegro. But everything that happens in Croatia finally happens in Montenegro as well, and I am sorry that the Montenegrin authorities were not a bit more original, but had to take advice from Croats - Minister Vulin concluded.
