What does NATO's joint participation with Serbia in the "Platinum Wolf 23" exercise mean?

An opportunity to raise the relations between Serbia and the US to an even higher level - this is how the interlocutors of Kosovo Online assess the cooperation between Belgrade and Washington in the "Platinum Wolf 2023" military exercise, in which, in addition to members of the Serbian and American Armed Forces, soldiers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and North of Macedonia will participate.

Military analyst Vlade Radulovic tells our portal that it is very important for the members of our Armed Forces but also for the Republic of Serbia as a country, to continue the now traditional organization of the international tactical exercise "Platinum Wolf" at the "Jug" base, which together with the US European Armed Forces Command we have been realizing since 2014.

"This is not only due to the continuation of international cooperation with partners, but also due to the further raising and improvement of the degree of interoperability with other armies. Also, the realization of the assigned exercise scenarios and the practice of tactics, techniques, and procedures in the field directly contribute to maintaining the previously achieved level of common action, cooperation, and coordination during the implementation of missions, operations, and assigned tasks in a multinational environment. Since our young men and women as members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Serbia have been engaged in various missions under the UN and EU flag for almost decades, these types of activities will directly contribute to their further individual training. By the way, the "Platinum Wolf" exercise belongs to the so-called "Platinum Series", which also includes the "Platinum Eagle" exercises hosted by Romania, as well as the "Platinum Lion" hosted by Bulgaria, so I would say that there is one special, "regional prism" when it comes to cooperation in the field of defense and participation in such events," Radulovic says.

Predrag Rajic, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Defense Milos Vucevic, explains for Kosovo Online, that the "Platinum Wolf" exercise has been held for years.

"It is aimed at strengthening Serbian defense capacities, acquiring new knowledge and skills of our soldiers, and improving the quality of action of Serbian officers. In all these fields, the Serbian Army is recording excellent results thanks to the work of Commander-in-Chief Aleksandar Vucic and Minister of Defense Milos Vucevic. The exercise is certainly a segment of our country's strategic determination, to raise the political relations between Serbia and the US as a world superpower to an even higher level, without jeopardizing Serbia's military neutrality," Rajic says.

The international tactical training exercise "Platinum Wolf 23", in which members of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of some of the NATO member states participate, began in Bujanovac on Thursday, June 15.

As announced by the Ministry of Defense of Serbia, the exercise would last until June 27 at the Borovac training ground and at the “Jug” base, organized by the Serbian Armed Forces and the United States European Command of the Armed Forces.

In the next two weeks, officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, about 600 of them, will practice the tactics, techniques, and procedures that are applied when engaging in peace operations.