President Vučić Attended Meeting of Extended Collegium of Chief of General Staff
Wednesday, 3.7.2024 | Stories from Units
Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces and President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić, accompanied by Prime Minister Miloš Vučević and Minister of Defense Bratislav Gašić, has attended the meeting of extended Collegium of the Chief of the General Staff at the “Banjica 2” Barracks in Belgrade today.
At the meeting of the extended Collegium, chaired by Chief of the General Staff General Milan Mojsilović, the current security situation in the country and surrounding area has been analyzed, while the discussion covered critical tasks of the Serbian Armed Forces and further improvement of operational capabilities.
Speaking after the meeting, President Vučić has pointed out that it has been analyzed today what needs to be corrected in the work so far, what are the security threats and what is the situation in the region, adding that certain decisions are being made accordingly.
— The equipment and weapons of the Serbian Armed Forces are being modernized and increased, including the ordnance. We are not satisfied with the recruitment of personnel, especially in the north of Serbia. We have many challenges; large forces have been assembled for various reasons in the region, from significant number of forces of neighboring countries to the large number of NATO members in Kosovo and Metohija. We count on good cooperation with KFOR and NATO troops, believing that they will contribute to the stabilization of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija - claimed President Vučić and stressed that the European Union had encouraged strategic reserves within the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, deployed in the territories of Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, expressing his belief that they would not be used in any way against Serbian people and Serbia.
According to President Vučić, there has been increased activity of aircraft observed in the surrounding area, with and without crews, with the intention of performing reconnaissance of Serbia, but without crossing our borders.
— We have noticed the flight of Albanian Bayraktars from Djakovica on 05 and 20 June, up to 5,800 meters, in order to perform reconnaissance of positions of the Serbian Armed Forces. Also, the Swedish-German planes make so-called LiDAR recordings, not from the territory controlled by the Serbian Armed Forces, but from other ones that are not under its effective control. They make very precise recordings because of the presence of security and military forces of Serbia in the territory of central Serbia - emphasized the President of the Republic.
He said that more and better work must be done and that a clearer message of deterring any potential aggressor against our country must be sent.
— Our defense industry factories will have to work harder. We will have to increase the number of people in the Serbian Armed Forces capable of helping the country in its potential defense. We invest a lot of money; the salaries of our soldiers have never been higher. The basic salary is not a real income; the real income is 40 or 50 percent higher than that. The income is very high, Serbia invests a lot of money, we are looking for the highest level of preparedness, morale and skills for potential defense of the country and overall deterrence of aggressors. Serbia wants and will always want peace, it will preserve it, but in order to preserve peace, we must have armed forces strong enough to deter any potential enemy - concluded the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces.
