Vucevic: The armament that Pristina is receiving poses a danger to Serbia

Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic stated today that he was concerned about the arming of Pristina with anti-tank missiles "Javelin" because everything that the Albanians in Kosovo received posed a danger to Serbia.

"In the US, all procedures have been completed; they approved the purchase of 'Javelins', and when you add what Turkey previously delivered to them, the US, Germany, some from Croatia, while the British are training them... NATO does not directly work on the creation and strengthening of the Kosovo army, but individual member countries are directly involved in that. Everything that the Albanians receive in Kosovo poses a danger to Serbia," Vucevic warned for TV Prva.

He pointed out that all the criticism against Serbia for significant investments in arming its army, given that the country is surrounded by NATO members, is oversimplified, even a part of psychological warfare, to not discourage us and make everything pointless.

He emphasized that the Serbian Army was not preparing for war, but quite the opposite, to preserve peace.

"We want to implement the 'Leap into the Future' program, and for that, we need peace, not war. The army does not want war; it is there to be a guarantor of peace and a guardian of freedom so that Serbia does not become a grain that any bird of prey would swallow, which would devour Serbia," Vucevic said.

The minister noted that Serbia, as a serious country, was considering what the response would be to everything happening in other states, in Kosovo in terms of violating UN Security Council Resolution 1244, stating that Croatia was also arming itself and sending armored vehicles to Beli Manastir.

Vucevic announced that a regular meeting on the annual report on the state of the Serbian Army would be held on January 30, attended by the President of the Republic and the entire leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Army, discussing what had been done and to define goals and tasks for the next period.

"We had a meeting about the army yesterday, we will have to present everything we will do in the Ministry, the army, as well as in the Ministry of the Interior and other defense segments. Strengthening the army awaits us because the Serbian Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Security Intelligence Agency are the ones who need to secure and protect everything that is a part of the 'Leap into the Future' project. Without the army, there is no Serbia. It's neither pretentious nor pompous, but without a strong army, we don't have the conditions to further develop," Vucevic said.

Regarding the proposal to reintroduce mandatory military service, the minister expressed the belief that a decision on this matter could be made this year, adding that the Ministry and the Serbian Army remained firm with that initiative.

Asked about the formation of a new government, Vucevic said that he expected the constitution of the new Serbian Parliament in the first half of February.

"Whether the parliamentary organs will be elected immediately, we will see, but from the moment the mandates are confirmed, there is a 90-day deadline for forming the government. We will have discussions about the new parliamentary majority, who will be a part of it, who will participate in the new government," Vucevic said, adding that there had been no discussions about personnel solutions so far.

Regarding the discussion in the European Parliament about alleged election irregularities, he noted that all attacks on Serbia mostly came because of Kosovo and Russia.

"All those who attack us do so because we refuse to recognize Kosovo and because we have our own policy, so we did not impose sanctions on Russia, we cooperate with China, African and Asian countries. Everyone has used this as the ideal opportunity for a new package of attacks on Serbia and the Serbs," Vucevic said.