Serbian Government Under Pressure Halts All Military Exercises

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Government of the Republic of Serbia, at today's session, made a decision to freeze all military exercises and activities with all partners.

"The Republic of Serbia is facing terrible and undeserved pressure from the EU. The pressures, which make no sense and are not based on our decisions and actions, nor even on reality, are the result of hysteria that dictates political decisions and directions of great, powerful countries," said Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin today.

Vulin points out that Serbia is being asked, at the cost of abandoning its European future and at the cost of even greater pressure on their policies, as well as on the people in Kosovo and Republika Srpska, to abandon military exercises with Belarus.

"By the decision of the National Assembly, we are a militarily neutral country. In order to preserve our position of military neutrality and to avoid or at least mitigate the consequences of increased attacks on our country, policies, and economy, the Government of Serbia, at today's session, decided to suspend all military exercises and all activities with all partners, without distinction, for the next six months," Vulin announced.

He emphasized that in the coming period, Serbia will not participate in any exercises or military activities with NATO, Russia, CSTO, the USA, China, or the EU.

"Neither with the East nor the West. Our participation in peacekeeping operations will be specifically considered and suspended as needed. The process of equipping and strengthening our army will not be stopped. We will work on increasing our combat readiness more and harder than ever. This is the only way to preserve military neutrality, and this painful decision obliges us to rely only on ourselves and our strength," Vulin emphasized.