Serbian Armed Forces Supreme Commander Meets with Leading and Command Personnel in the Niš Garrison
Saturday, 11.12.2021 | News
The Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces and the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vučić, visited the "Mija Stanimirović" barracks in Niš today, where he met with the leading personnel of the Ministry of Defense and the command personnel of the Serbian Armed Forces and attended the display of the work of the battalion "Nora" B52 M15.
After the meetings and display, President Vučić pointed out that due to the complicating security situation in the whole world, as well as in our region, Serbia must further develop and strengthen its military capabilities in order for the Serbian Armed Forces to be a sufficient deterrent for any potential aggressor on Serbian territory.
— Today we discussed how to fill units and further improve the financial status of soldiers, officers and non-commissioned officers, although the situation is better now than before, and how to further attract people to serve in the military in the coming period so that we can fill all the units in accordance with the goals — said President Vučić.
The Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces stated that he was presented with a five-year plan and program for equipping, arming, organization and manning in the period from 2022 to 2027, adding that at least an additional 500 million euros a year should be invested, although the military’s requirements and demands are 700 million euros.
— The demands of the military are justified, because they have strategic decisions on what to monitor in the region and the world, and they must know what strength they must have and be stronger, compared to the environment, and in what services of military to invest — assessed President Vučić.
He said that in the coming period there would be significant reinforcements in all services of the Serbian Armed Forces, and that we needed more soldiers and therefore would continue to improve the financial position of officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
— The military, as a guarantor of stability and security, must exist and be a real deterrent factor for anyone who might think they could endanger Serbia - said President Vučić. — We procure and spend huge money for our military and it is many times stronger today than when I became the Minister of Defence. I am happy that we have brought great changes. Is it ideal and good? It is still far from that — he concluded and added that significant procurements await us in terms of equipping and arming the military in 2022, and especially in the period from 2023 to 2025.
The Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces said that there would be some changes in strategic documents in terms of the need to further strengthen our military and long-term preservation of our military neutrality, which would clearly define the need to reach a certain level of strength and capacity of the Serbian Armed Forces.
He also pointed out that there was still no decision on the introduction of compulsory conscription because there were more open issues, although that would certainly be a saving solution for the Serbian Armed Forces.
— I know that the majority of the population is in favor of this decision, but there are a million problems that we are discussing, and we are also considering a significant increase in salary for voluntary military service. We are still weighing between those two decisions - the President of the Republic emphasized and added that our military must certainly be strengthened with at least 5,000 more soldiers.
— These are not simple things, the military is a complicated system, and it cannot be built in a year or two. We are building it for the ninth year in a serious way and only now are we seeing progress — President Vučić explained and added that the public does not see everything that the military has, because only one part is shown.
The Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces and the President of the Republic ended the tour with a military lunch with members of the Serbian Armed Forces in the "Mija Stanimirović" barracks, and the visit to the Niš garrison continues tomorrow with a meeting with the management of the Serbian Defence Industry companies and a tour of Serbian Armed Forces units.
