18.11.2010.
Interview with deputy director of the Military Intelligence Agency
So far the Ministry of Defence has had 19 military envoys, but the by decision of the Serbian Government, Serbia can establish a delegation of defense in 32 countries and may accredit the non-resident defense attaches in another ten countries, as the Acting Director of Military Intelligence Agency, Brigadier General Dragan Vladisavljevic told the Blic daily.
Out of the existing 19 military delegations, explained Vladisavljevic, in four countries - USA, Great Britain, Germany and Russia we have Assistant Defence Attachés, while the remaining delegations only have defense attaches (Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Turkey and Spain, and in Asia and Africa - China, Egypt and Libya).
Answering a question how the number of delegations is determined, as well as the states they will be sent to, General Vladisavljevic says.
- The decision on the number and schedule of defense is made by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, while the Minister of Defense shall prescribe rules of delegations. It is the minister who makes the decision on establishing, closing or revocation of defense delegations at the proposal of Director of Military Intelligence Agency. This proposal was formulated based on the analysis of security and defense priorities of the country, perceived threats and the need to monitor political and security situation in certain regions.
VOA (The Military Intelligence Agency) director explains that the most important delegations are in the neighboring countries, but also in major European countries and the permanent and permanent members of the UN SC.- In recent times we have striven to have especially good relations with those countries that have made great contributions to international security and with whom we are planning joint activities, such as Spain. But we also choose these countries in order to ensure that our wishes are met and also to make use of all economic opportunities. In this sense, we have an option of assigning a defense attache on a non-residential basis- said our source.
Military delegations, he recalled, are established with standing diplomatic missions abroad, where with the strengthening of civil control and the development of defensive functions, military attaches were given, as he stated, a number of new tasks in the field of international relations, defense policy, international military cooperation, economic, scientific and scientific and technical cooperation in the field of defense.
As for the hierarchy in the defense system, military attaches are directly subordinate to the Minister of Defense, their work is indirectly controlled by Government and Parliament of the Republic of Serbia. In terms of organization, they are members of the Military Intelligence Agency and are subordinated to its director. According to the given instructions and based on the data they collect as official representatives through legal diplomatic means, the defense attaches prepare and submit reports on the developments in the countries they reside in and in other countries of interest to the security of Serbia. At the same time, within a diplomatic mission of Serbia to a foreign country, they advise our ambassadors on defense matters.
With the dissolution of Yugoslavia many, military delegation were canceled. After the NATO aggression we had a discontinuation in diplomatic relations with the four leading NATO countries – the USA, Great Britain, Germany and France. After 5 October 2000.we re-established these relations as general Vladisavljevic notes, reminding of the negative impact of canceling military delegations on the overall bilateral relations and the interests of the country.
The list
Decision of the Government approved the establishment of defense delegations in the following countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Greece, Egypt, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Italy, South Africa, China, Libya, Hungary, Macedonia, Germany, Norway, Romania, Russia, USA, Turkey, Ukraine, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, Algeria, the Netherlands and Portugal.
In countries where these missions of the Serbian Defense have not been established, defense attaché may be accredited on a non-residential basis, in Belarus, Denmark, Canada, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Montenegro and Sweden.
Tanja Nikolic Djakovic
