23.08.2020.
Ceremonial Opening of International Military Games and Forum “Army 2020” in Russia
Ceremonial opening held in the Patriot Park in the military training area Alabino near Moscow, marked the beginning of this year’s International Military Games with concurrent opening of the sixth International Military-Technical Forum “Army 2020”. The opening ceremony was attended by Chief of General Staff of Serbian Armed Forces General Milan Mojsilović, Assistant Minister for Material Resources Nenad Miloradović PhD, Deputy Army Commander Brigadier General Vladeta Baltić, Defence Attaché of the Republic of Serbia in Russia Colonel Budimir Gajić, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Moscow Miroslav Lazanski and others, who today also attended the opening of the most attractive event of the “Military Games” – the “Tank Biathlon” in which members of the Serbian Armed Forces take part as well.
In his address via video-link to participants of the Games, President of Russia Vladimir Putin underlined that “the most important thing is that the military games contribute to strengthening peace and mutual understanding among states and peoples” and that they considerably contributed to building confidence in the field of security and military-technical cooperation.
“I am well aware of the importance of building the relations of confidence in the area of security and military-technical cooperation and seeking together the answers to new challenges” said President Putin in his video-message to participants and guests of the Forum “Army 2020” and International Military Games.
In his address at the opening ceremony, Minister of Defence of Russian Federation General of the Army Sergey Shoygu wished success to all the teams in the International Games and jokingly added that “from the second place on – all places are yours”. He underlined that more than 90 foreign delegations attended the opening ceremony.
International Military-Technical Forum “Army 2020” lasts until 29th August with numerous international congress and exhibition events in the field of defence. More than a thousand national and foreign companies participate in the Forum, and they will demonstrate some 28 thousand models of weapons, military and special equipment.
International Military Games will continue until 5th September with competitions of 156 teams from 32 countries in 30 events, in the territory of five states – Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
Members of the Serbian Armed Forces are to participate in three events “Tank Biathlon” which is held on the training area “Alabino” near Moscow, in “Military Rally” in the Republic of Tyva in the east of the Russian Federation and in competition “Sniper Frontier” in Belarus. The International Military Games are accompanied by the National Culture Festival which was opened today in the House of Friendship in the training area Alabino. Each country that participates in the Festival with different exhibits displayed on its stand in the House of Friendship, presents the particularities of its national culture, and in competitive and review part, artists from those countries endeavour to present the musical and folklore tradition of their country through songs and dance. At the last year’s Festival, the Serbian stand in the House of Friendship was among the most visited ones, while a quartet of the Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defence “Stanislav Binički” successfully represented our country in the artistic segment of the Festival.
This year’s programme is enriched by presenting folklore richness of Serbia through performance of a national dance group of Cultural Artistic Company “Dimitrije Koturović“. They will present our country together with representatives of the Public Relations Department and members of the Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defence “Stanislav Binički” who will perform military marches, traditional vocal and instrumental compositions from various parts of Serbia and music from world film hits.
At the stand, the members of the national dance group will demonstrate the variety of national attires and uniforms of the Serbian Army from previous periods. Film production of the Military Film Centre “Zastava Film” will be augmented with new films autonomously produced and co-produced with the Radio Television of Serbia, while selection of books published by the Media Centre “Odbrana” is to be enriched by new issues within the edition “Warrior” and new titles translated into the Russian language.
Chief of General Staff General Milan Mojsilović visited the stand of Serbia in the House of Friendship with the members of delegation of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces who attended the opening of international events. It is estimated that on the first day, the stand was visited by more than 1000 visitors of the National Culture Festival.
Today, on the first day of the International Military Games, the Serbian team had its first individual race of the “Tank Biathlon” in the group with China, Azerbaijan and Belarus. They will drive the second and third individual race on 26th and 29th August. The best ranking teams in this stage of competition will continue competing in semi-final and final races. The best four tank crews of the Serbian Armed Forces participate in the competition – three competing and one reserve team.
Out team which competes in the “Military Rally” will have their first race tomorrow, on 24th August, on a training area near the capital of the Republic of Tyva, Kyzyl, in the far east of Russia.
