Eurasia Press & News
The Serbian government is considering to send military officers to NATO exercises being held in Georgia. Although, the opposition is worried about endangering political relationships with Russia.
The Serbian government is considering whether or not to send Serbian Army, SA, officers to a NATO military exercise in Georgia, said Nada Kolundzija, the chief of the Democratic Party Caucus in the Serbian Parliament to Beta Agency. During the last few days, the Opposition deputies have been criticising the government because of possibility that two of its army officers are set to go to the military exercise.
At the end of last year, the government adopted a cooperation plan with the NATO Partnership for Peace program for 2009 and 2010. Under that plan, Serbia was due to send its officers to the upcoming exercises in Georgia. The opposition is worried as to if it is a wise move for Serbia, given its close relations with Russia.
Chief of the parliamentary caucus of oppositional Democratic Party of Serbia, DPS, Milos Aligrudic, told to reporters in Parliament, that Serbia shouldn’t take part in this exercise, and that it should keep to it’s principle of military neutrality, especially in this specific case: “This is an issue of political conflict between Russia and NATO. Serbia’s interference would be scandalous”, Aligrudic said.
Dragan Todorovic, the Serbian Radical Party’s Deputy said that the idea of Serbia taking part in Georgia military maneuvers is “simply insane.”
According to the TV B92, Russia has informed NATO that it will not be taking part at a meeting with the Alliance’s senior military personnel next month, precisely because of the exercise in Georgia, a country Russia went to war with just last summer.
The military maneuvers in Georgia will take place on May 6 to June 2 as a part of the Partnership for Peace program, with two Serbian officers due to take part. However, the government is now considering whether this would be a wise move politically, as Russia has not taken kindly to the exercises being held in a country with which it was at war only a year ago.
The exercises will be attended by both personnel from existing NATO member states, and also from prospective candidate states, including Bosnia and Hercegovina and Macedonia. The exercises will focus on training in reaction to crisis situations, Defense Ministry State Secretary Dusan Spasojevic told B92.
“As part of the program that the government has accepted, Serbia planned to take part at the exercises with its two representatives participating in training for high command officers. One of the chosen officers is an expert in civil military relations and the other is an expert in telecommunications and IT,” he explained.
The government decided to hold further consultations over its participation after the Russian Foreign Ministry asked NATO to move the exercises out of Georgia on the grounds that it could not help stabilize the situation in the Caucuses, said Spasojevic.
“When these activities were planned in the middle of last year, no conflict in the Caucus region seemed imminent. We couldn’t tell that there was going to be a conflict between the Russian Federation and Georgia, and be rest assured, that the government will make a decision in the coming days that will be made in national interests,” said the state secretary
