Defense Minister Miloš Vučević has stated that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić issued an order to step up combat readiness immediately after drones were spotted.
The drones in question entered the territory of central Serbia from Kosovo, it was explained earlier, according to B92 on Thursday.
Vucevic said that the decision to raise combat readiness was made “keeping in mind the experience on the Ukrainian front”, so that there would be no administrative delays in the chain of command.
Vucevic told RTS that several drones were observed, there were different movements, but the Mig-29s were not patrolling because of drones – they were conducting police patrols.
The army can respond to these challenges with helicopters, cannons, aircraft machine guns, said Vucevic. It’s not just a question of drones entering the Raška district, Serbian Army has spotted certain objects in the direction of movement through the Toplica and Nišava districts, Minister Vučević pointed out.
Unmanned aerial vehicles filmed activities in the Ground Security Zone and two barracks yesterday. Drones flew over the area of Merdare and the surroundings of Raška.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabić pointed out, as a guest on RTS, that raising the combat readiness of the Army has something to do with that incident and that it is about the issue of the security of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and the problems that exist in our autonomous province.
Defense Minister Miloš Vučević said, in a guest appearance on RTS’s Daily news, that the Army observes certain objects, unmanned aerial vehicles or drones that move on the administrative separation line of central Serbia in the Land Security Zone and occasionally enter the territory of central Serbia for three days.
Vučević says that it is about attempts to observe the positions of the Armed Forces units and certain military barracks.
It’s not just a question of entering the Raška district, the Armed Forces had spotted certain objects and in the direction of movement of the Toplički and Nišava districts, says Minister Vučević. It indicates that the President of the Republic, as Commander-in-Chief, has issued an executive order to eliminate every such object.
“We will protect the sky that is under the control of our Armed Forces – the sky that is covered by our systems, in accordance with Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo Agreement – it will be safe for all citizens of Serbia,” the minister added.
The army has the capacity and ability to respond to every task, Vucevic underlined. “To clear up the confusion, our fighters, Mig-29s, did not patrol because of drones, we have other procedures for dealing with such situations – they carried out regular police patrols, control of our sky, the Army can also use aircraft machine guns, helicopters, cannons, and other means to respond to these challenges”, adds the Minister of Defense.
“I can’t say whose drones they are, they come from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija”, says Vucevic.
“All this is rejected in the context of monitoring and trying to monitor the activities of the Serbian Armed Forces on the territory under our control, the Armed Forces acts in accordance with the guidelines of the Supreme Commander”, the minister notes.
“There were large exercises in progress, which were called Maneuvers 22, I expect that tomorrow the President of the Republic will visit part of the units at Pasuljanske livade firing range and make sure how the exercises are going,” says Vučević.
He says that there were many incorrect headlines from Pristina, that the Serbian Army is concentrating on administrative lines. “By making a bogus out of it, someone is trying to get some information through that spying,” Vučević pointed out.
The army carries out its activities as planned and keeps its weapons and tools, said Vucevic. According to him, the Army is a key attribute of the state, it is an armed force, it is not a society of stamp lovers, it is an armed force that defends the state. President of the Republic issued an order on the increased level of combat readiness, and the Army must be willing to carry out every order, Vucevic points out.
If a drone is spotted, it will be eliminated or placed under our control, the Minister of Defense stated.
Due to the non-negotiable behavior of the administration in Pristina, due to abandoning the concept of dialogue, insisting that the issue of license plates is a matter for their administration, security situation can seriously deteriorate, and Serbia must react, he added.
The message is that there will be no new Storm, no new Flash operation. These are not video games, better a thousand days at the negotiating table than one hour in the trenches, that does not mean we are afraid, he says. We call on Pristina and the Quint countries to redirect Pristina to the negotiating table, to end the policy of one-sided decisions, notes Vučević.
“Mig-29s patrol our skies, we have the right to control our skies. We don’t raise Mig-29s for the sake of drones,” concluded Vucevic.
