20.02.2020.
Meeting of Minister Vulin and Minister of Defence of Belarus General Khrenin
Minister Vulin: Cooperation with the Republic of Belarus in the field of defence has made significant progress since 2012
Today, in Minsk, Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin was received with the highest state and military honours by Minister of Defence of the Republic of Belarus Major General Victor Khrenin, which marked the beginning of his official two-day visit to that country.
After the ceremonial reception, a meeting was held between ministers Vulin and Khrenin, with their delegations. At the beginning of the meeting, Minister Vulin extended congratulations to Minister Khrenin on his appointment to the duty of minister of defence. Minister Vulin congratulated Fatherland Defender Day to his Belarus colleague and the 102th anniversary of the establishment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus.Firstly, Minister Vulin underlined that the continuity of meetings at the highest level was the best indicator of developed cooperation, stressing that defence cooperation with the Republic of Belarus had made significant progress since 2012 and that presently went in step with the overall relations of the two states.
- Serbia and Belarus have remarkably well developed bilateral cooperation. Besides, this is a friendly country which even in 1999, at the time of NATO aggression, was standing strongly beside us. The only foreign statesman who came to Belgrade at that time, on the day which was probably the only day when NATO bombs did not fall on us, was President Lukashenko who came to Belgrade to support the Serbian people. Today, the politics is completely the same. The relations between President Vučić, who is highly estimated here, and President Lukashenko are such that they create opportunities for cooperation between our peoples, and of course between our armed forces and our ministries of defence – Minister Vulin stressed.
According to him, the Republic of Belarus consistently supports the Republic of Serbia in relation to false state of “Kosovo” and it is always there for us at all international fora.
- I have once again expressed gratitude for such principled position and warned that the main security threat in the region is the attempt at establishment of so called “Armed Forces of Kosovo”, attempt at creation of “Greater Albania”. Creation of any armed force in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija is absolutely unacceptable for us, particularly not the attempt using force and other means to make the Serbs to serve in that and such armed forces. I have warned my hosts of the possibility that it will cause further persecution of the Serbs, and even their expulsion from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. I have also drawn their attention to the fact that the situation in the Republic of Srpska, or Bosnia and Herzegovina is not in the least good, and that the Dayton Treaty is seriously infringed, and that it gives rise to further instability in the region – Minister Vulin highlighted.Minister Vulin noted that President Vučić was the man of peace and the only statesman in the Balkans who firmly adhered to the position of peace and peace-loving policy, which was well known in Belarus.
Minister Vulin once again expressed gratitude to his Belarus hosts for significant donation of four MiG-29 planes and he added that during today’s meeting they discussed joint military exercises which Serbia and Belarus are to conduct in this year.- Together we established that our cooperation was at a very high level. A small example of this is that Belarus has the largest number of joint activities with the Russian Federation, which is quite logical, but Serbia is at the second place. That speaks enough about how well Belarus thinks about Serbia and how much it appreciates and respects the Serbian Armed Forces – Minister Vulin concluded.
Minister of Defence of the Republic of Belarus Major General Victor Khrenin expressed his satisfaction for having an opportunity to greet the minister of defence of the Republic of Serbia in Minsk and he underscored that the cooperation was at the highest level ever. He evaluated as particularly useful that the number of activities and exercises was continuously growing and he praised excellent readiness of members of the Serbian Armed Forces demonstrated during joint exercises and competitions in the framework of the International Military Games.
At the meeting, the interlocutors stressed common orientation towards continuing the trend of intensive military cooperation in the future, which would additionally enhance traditionally friendly relations of the two states and two peoples.At the end of the meeting, Minister Khrenin presented a badge for contribution to development of cooperation to Defence Attaché of the Republic of Serbia in Minsk Colonel Saša Momčilović.
