President of the Republic of Serbia meets commanders of the units of the Serbian Armed Forces, the Ministry of Interior and the line ministers
Friday, 10.5.2019 | News
President Vučić: most powerful presentation of Serbian arms and equipment in Niš today
President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, on the eve of today’s Demonstration of Capabilities of Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia entitled “Defence of Liberty”, met with the commanders of the units of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior and the line ministers, at the Army Command in Niš.
After the meeting, President Vučić, in the presence of Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilović, pointed out that they discussed the current security situation in the country and the region, possibility for better equipping military and police personnel, improvement of their material position, as well as preparedness to perform the demonstration.
- I am very happy that we are today in Niš and I am grateful to the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior, ministers, but also policemen and soldiers, and those who take care of the security of our citizens, the security of our people and who are working hard and with diligence on probably one of the most difficult jobs in our country – President Vučić emphasised.
Speaking on the topics of today's meeting, President Vučić pointed out that he had briefed representatives of the military and the police on the extremely complex political and security situation, stressing that Serbia would behave very responsibly and seriously, to preserve peace and stability.
- Our units are increasingly prepared, trained and equipped in the Serbian Armed Forces as well, and our budget for defence, but also for the Ministry of Interior, has never been bigger, and not only that budget, but also what we took from the budget reserves and budget balance area, it meant a lot. But this facilitates a relatively small, independent and sovereign country to run an independent policy – President Vučić emphasised.
During the meeting, he added, they also talked about all the things that can be done for military and police personnel, objectively analysing the current situation.
- We know how many more problems we face, we know how many troubles we still have in the police and in the military, we know that what we have succeeded it was not ‘nothing’, as Nebojša Stefanović said at the meeting, but minus eight billion, and that we had almost nothing of the materiel, equipment and uniforms. Today, the situation with the uniforms is incomparably better in the police and in the military – the president emphasised illustrating this claim with the example that when he became the defence minister in 2012, there were two MiG-21s in the AF&AD, referred to as ‘flying coffins’ today, and one MiG-29 that could not fly, and today this situation is much different, so today we will be able to see the most powerful presentation of the Serbian arms and equipment in the past many decades.
According to him, it will be possible to see mighty and powerful air force today in Niš, and in the future it will be possible to see an ever stronger air defence as well.
The president announced that today there will also be eight MiG-29s in the sky, the largest number to date, the same number of ‘Eagles’, as well as G4s, trainer planes, bombers and fighters, but also Mi-35 helicopters – 'the Devil’s Chariots'.
- We bought three more Mi-17s and ordered three more Pumas, we ordered another nine Ha 145s, so we are the biggest helicopter orderers in this part of the world along with Hungary, Poland and Romania. This dramatically changes the position of Serbia in terms of the military and the police, because we did not have as many helicopters, and not to say that these are convincingly the best helicopters and something that positions Serbia in a completely different way. You will see today the largest number of tanks ever in one place in the march-past, as well as other armoured vehicles, our other equipment, as well as the largest number of soldiers and policemen at one moment in one exercise in the march-past, more than 4,000 people, and our goal is to bring out 10,000 people in two years, after some changes – President Vučić said.
The supreme commander reminded that two unmanned aircraft systems, powerful unmanned aircraft of Chinese production, have also been purchased, what constitutes the essence of modern warfare, all of which should serve to deter potential aggressor from attacking the Republic of Serbia.
- The third thing relevant for soldiers and policemen is that we talked about their income. Their income today is better than before, even the police members said they were satisfied, of course, satisfied in accordance with the conditions in which we live. These people can understand that, but I think that we cannot, and we will have to continue to increase the salaries of soldiers and policemen – President Vučić said, suggesting that salaries for certain occupations are significantly lower than those in the market.
This year, he added, they will strive to significantly increase the salaries and income for both policemen and soldiers.
- I believe that this will additionally be reflected in the desire of people to join the army and the police and show their love for the state and Serbia, because they perform the most sacred and most important task – President Vučić concluded.
Based on the Decision of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the guidelines of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Interior Nebojša Stefanović and the Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin, and the Order of the Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilović, the Army was tasked, in cooperation with the Air Force and the Air Defence and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, to plan, organise and perform the demonstration of capabilities of members of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, on the occasion of marking the Victory Day over Nazism in World War II entitled ‘Defence of Liberty’.
President Vučić is to meet with Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in Niš, today.
