Serbia is giving up the Russian military base and will train its army to NATO standards

• Last week, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that the republic will not host military bases of other countries, i.e. neither Russia nor the USA
• Vučić’s statement came three days after the Russian ambassador to Belgrade suggested the possibility of establishing a Russian military base in Serbia
• Lukashenko recently said that “Serbia would like to sit on three chairs: EU, US, Russia, but it will not be able to anymore”, which was seen as Moscow’s ultimatum
• Expert: Belgrade will no longer be able to apply the “ostrich policy” and hide their heads in the sand: “it will not pass with either side”
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This information was confirmed by the head of the US Office for Defense Cooperation (ODC), Alexandro Pedraz, who coordinates the cooperation of the Serbian army with the Pentagon. According to him, Washington and Belgrade plan to develop the southern base as “the main center for training the Serb army according to NATO standards and training Serbian special units for peacekeeping operations.”

Last week, the president Serbia Aleksandar Vučić said that the republic would not host other countries’ military bases.

– Serbia does not need anyone’s military bases, Serbia will maintain military neutrality, strengthen its army itself, Serbia will take care of its nation and will be strong enough to be independent – he said Vučić.

Vučić’s statement came three days after the Russian ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Bocan-Kharczenko, suggested the possibility of establishing a Russian military base in the republic. He called it “an issue of interest” to Moscow, but stressed that the establishment of the bases remained a “sovereign matter” for the Serbian authorities.

Although Vučić explicitly rejected such a possibility, he stressed that the country “will not be ashamed of its ties with Russia”, as well as with China, the US and the EU.

Earlier, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said that “Serbia would like to sit on three chairs: EU, USA, Russia – but it will not be able to.” In Belgrade, these words were interpreted as a demand for Moscow to take a side, expressed by the Kremlin through its Belarusian ally.

Former Serbian ambassador to Minsk Srečko Djukic said that the Russian leadership is dissatisfied that Serbia calls itself Russia’s friend, but maintains good relations with the West, and the signal “means that Belgrade should go to the end with Moscow and Minsk or change sides.”

Serbia is closely watched by the West as it forms a new government and decides whether to join sanctions against Russia. At the same time, Vučić does not want to spoil relations with Moscow, because it “provides Serbia with the cheapest gas in Europe and he supports her on Kosovo. “

Djukic believes that Belgrade will no longer be able to apply the “ostrich policy” and bury their heads in the sand: “it will not pass with either side”. Nevertheless, he called a radical change in the behavior of the Serb leader unlikely in the coming months.

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