Ceremony Marking the River Units Day and River Flotilla Day
Thursday, 6.8.2020 | Culture and traditions
The ceremony marking the Day of the River Units of the Serbian Armed Forces and also the Day of the Army’s River Flotilla held today in the “Aleksandar Berić” barracks in Novi Sad.
Congratulating members of the River Flotilla on their Day, Minster Vulin said that every part of the Serbian Armed Forces deserves equal attention and respect.
– The duty of the River Flotilla is to defend our waters and it does so successfully thanks primarily to the work of its members. The times in which we did not take care of the River Flotilla are gone, in which we did not modernize our ships or take care of the members of the River Flotilla. Today, the River Flotilla is being modernized and rearmed and next year we expect the beginning of the first major general repairs of our vessels – said the Minister of Defence and added that all those things should have been done decades ago.
– We have not done them, but thanks to the determination and effort of these people, the River Flotilla has been saved, and it is up to us to improve it and to protect our Serbia. As the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, said, that way Jasenovac and Operation “Storm” will never happen again. And they will not happen again because we have the Serbian Armed Forces that are getting stronger and safer, because we have the state of Serbia which is getting more organized, better to its citizens, more successful and which takes much more care of the Serbs no matter where they live – said Minister Vulin.
As he pointed out, in order for Operation “Storm” and Jasenovac never to happen again, we must have strong, upright, successful, modernized and trained Serbian Armed Forces.
– That is what Serbia needs and what makes Serbia safe, that the policy of military neutrality that President Vučić pursues can be implemented, that we are able to defend ourselves and the Serbs wherever they live – said Minister Vulin.
At today’s ceremony, names of the commended and awarded members of the River Flotilla were read.
The Day of the River Units and the River Flotilla is marked in memory of 6 August 1915 when the first Serbian warship, armoured boat “Jadar” was launched from the Čukarica slipway, which started the history of the Serbian River Flotilla of the Royal Serbian Armed Forces.
