14.11.2018.
The Minister about Allegations of Croatia and the Exercise “Century of Victors”
Commenting on the allegations in Croatian media that the exercise “Century of Victors” was merely a response to the Croatian exercise in which, as they said, the conditions of cyber warfare were better presented and that the Serbian exercise was just a simple conventional exercise by which Serbia competed only by the number of soldiers, appearing in the Morning Programme of the TV station “Pink”, Minister Vulin stated that the Serbian Armed Forces had Department for Cyber Warfare, which had been introduced to deal with protection of our units in cyber space as well, and that cyber space was covered in case of every movement of the armed forces and for the exercise of such magnitude such as “Century of Victors”.
- We could have competed by the number of soldiers, tanks, aircraft, artillery weapons, missile systems and so on, but, you know, that speaks about deep complexes which they have about Serbia. The Croatian exercise was titled “Velebit” and our armed forces did not comment on it with a single letter, nor did our politicians or our media. No one knew that it took place, nor was anyone interested. That is their right, an exercise in their territory, they can do whatever they want. But why is the fact that we have an exercise or how we conduct it so important to them? Just imagine what a deep complex that is. They connect our military exercise with theirs, but they overlook a tiny fact, that we organised the exercise on the anniversary of the victory in the First World War. Did we adjust that as well to their exercise so we decided on the date of the victory in the First World War, just to respond to their exercise? - the minister of defence asked.
Minister Vulin reminded that if there had not been for the victory of the Serbian army in the First World War, the territory of Croatia, as a defeated side, would have been torn to pieces.
- If there had not been for that, their territory would have been ripped to pieces. Italy would have taken the greatest portion of then territory of Croatia. Anyway, these are the provisions of the London Treaty. If there had not been for the Serbian army, not only Croatia but Montenegro as well would have been divided among different allies, instead, it was preserved for some future times.
Evaluating the significance of the exercise “Century of Victors”, Minister Vulin pointed out that the exercise showed 8000 supremely trained men, who love their country, who love their armed forces and who are exceptional professionals.
- Eight thousand men, without a single incident. You cannot fix the performance of tanks. When you drive the tanks out and place a target in front of them first at two kilometres and then four kilometre distance, and you see that they hit the target on the move - you cannot fix that and that kind of armed forces cannot be made in seven days or in a month. Those are the armed forces that have been patiently built since 2012. -Now, we went out to show them - added Minister Vulin, underlying that until 2012, when Aleksandar Vučić had become the minister of defence, there were days when there was not even a pair of fighters, meaning that there were no two serviceable planes to control and defend our sky, which is an international obligation.
- Today - Minister Vulin stressed -we do not have to think about that.
- We have shown eight MiG-29 planes. We have shown not only the MiGs but Eagles as well. We have also shown G-4. We have shown the helicopters. We have shown the tanks, guns, and the most importantly, we have shown 8000 supremely trained men, who love their country, who love their armed forces and who are exceptional professionals. That cannot be achieved in seven days. Just imagine the magnitude of work and the scale of logistic operation to deploy 8,000 men to 10 locations, to feed them, dress them, transport them and bring their assets. They did it all by themselves. We did not drive them by bus, but they went on their own, just like they would and discharge their regular tasks.
Minister Vulin underscored that such endeavour would not have been possible in 2011 and 2012.
- If anyone had ordered that, we would not have been able to bring 8,000 people together. We did not have 8,000 men armed and trained in such manner. We did not have 100 serviceable tanks and 100 crews that could drive the tanks - stated the minister of defence confirming the reporters’ statement that Serbia at that moment had an armoured brigade that was stronger even than the French one.
- As for the armoured assets, we are absolutely the first at the regional level, and we can match much larger countries. But this is not about us wanting to pose a threat to somebody or wanting to wage war against someone. We are just demonstrating what the Serbian Armed Forces, as an important institution of Serbian people, are ready and capable of doing. And do not forget that we exist. We exist, we are here and do not calculate in any kind of political equation the possibility that Serbia is weak and unprotected - the minister of defence emphasised.
Commenting on world media evaluations of the exercise “Century of Victors”, which range from the statement that Serbia displayed strength in the time of increasing tensions regarding Kosmet, to the statements of some US agencies, that Serbia with its allies - Russia wields a sward more and more around Kosmet, Minister Vulin commented that everybody could draw conclusions as they liked and emphasised the Serbia was a peace-loving country and that the armed forces existed to protect peace and stability of the country.
- We are a peace loving-country, but we are the military that will execute every order of the state leadership and its supreme commander. Every order has always referred to the protection of peace, security and stability of our country and Serbian people wherever they lived. That is our job. That is what we exist for. There is no armed force that exists to be photographed. The armed forces exist to preserve peace and stability. The armed forces exist to show you that it is capable of mounting a pontoon bridge 200 metres long on the river of Tisa near Titel, and to use it for the tank company to cross the river as it were nothing special, and that is something that has not been done in the area since the seventies of the last century - the minister of defence highlighted.
According to him, the armed forces exist to show technological progress as well and that everything that we possess is serviceable and functional.
You remember the stories that we have good for nothing armed forces, with rusty MiGs. Here are the MiGs; you saw them fly. There are no tanks? Here are the tanks. There is no artillery? We do have the artillery and the most importantly, we have trained soldiers, but these are the soldiers who are secured and they will be even more satisfied, since these are the soldiers who received 10 per cent salary increase this year, and the next year they will receive another 9 per cent increase in salary, and these are the soldiers whose daily allowances were increased, the soldiers who will be provided with housing, who possess required number of uniforms and boots and new weapons, these are the soldiers who are loved - said Minister Aleksandar Vulin.
