19.09.2014.

Cooperation with Russia on the rise

Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic and Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Aleksandar Chepurin agreed that relations between the two countries are traditionally good and friendly and that cooperation in the field of defence has been on the rise.

Gasic and Chepurin discussed the current regional and global political and security issues. Gasic underlined the principled position of Serbia regarding the respect for the territorial integrity of all United Nations member states. Defence Minister thanked Russia for its support to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, and pointed out our efforts to solve all the problems in the area of Kosovo and Metohija by peaceful means, through dialogue between all the stakeholders.

Serbia will continue to pursue a policy of military neutrality and will continue to cooperate with all partners in the East as well as the West, Gasic pointed out during the talks.

Gasic and Chepurin concluded that it is necessary to further enhance military-military, military-educational, military-medical and military-technical cooperation. Serbian military is preparing for the visit of the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Army General Valery Gerasimov, who will attend the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade from fascism. Also, they talked about the upcoming Serbian-Russian exercise of special and airborne forces Srem 2014, which will help raising the level of functional and operational capabilities of the two armies.

They agreed that the Serbian-Russian humanitarian centre for emergency situations has fully justified its role in the rehabilitation of the natural disasters that we have been increasingly exposed to. Our gratitude for the extremely fast reaction of the Russian side after floods in Serbia was particularly highlighted, as well as for the humanitarian donations delivered by Russian aircraft on 30 August and 3 September 2014.