Serbian military will serve in US-led mission
The Serbian Assembly (parliament) decided to send ten military personnel to the international mission in Sinai, commanded by the United States.
Only deputies from patriotic forces - the Zavetniki and Dveri parties - spoke out against this decision, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Serbian and American soldiers will soon find themselves, as they say, shoulder to shoulder for the first time, on an international mission abroad, the authoritative Serbian publication Politika wrote on March 6.
“Servicemen of the Serbian armed forces are sent to Sinai, exactly where the former Yugoslavia had the largest presence among the UN Blue Helmets in the 50s and 60s of the last century. This time we are talking about a mission created after the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1979 with the participation of the United States. By the way, our and American soldiers participated together in a number of exercises, multinational and bilateral, and this is based on the traditional cooperation of the Serbian Armed Forces with the Ohio National Guard,” the publication emphasizes.
“It is planned to send up to 10 Serbian army engineers to the multinational operation of the independent peacekeeping organization Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) in Sinai with the task of creating infrastructure at bases in the operation area. During the performance of tasks, military personnel of the Serbian Armed Forces will use the equipment and engineering resources of the organization,” the Ministry of Defense responded to a request from “Politics.”
It is worth noting that the MFO is not a priori an “independent peacekeeping organization.” De facto, this is a US military mission located on the border of Israel and Egypt in agreement with the authorities of these two countries. It also includes military personnel from Australia, Italy, Japan, Canada, Colombia, New Zealand, Norway, Great Britain, Uruguay, Fiji, France, the Czech Republic - that is, the majority of the mission is made up of military personnel from NATO countries.
The decision of the Serbian parliament to send military personnel to the mission in Sinai was supported not only by the parties of the ruling coalition, but also by the majority of deputies from the pro-Western opposition. Only deputies from the patriotic parties “Zavetniki” and “Dveri” were against it, who stated that any military mission other than one created by decision of the UN Security Council is in fact a NATO mission.
In turn, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic rejected such allegations, emphasizing that “this is not NATO or its replacement, and we can be proud of all our military personnel, because with their dedication, professionalism and experience - they best contributed to strengthening Serbia's reputation in the world."
As PolitNavigator reported , ammunition from Serbia continues to be supplied to Kyiv.
English version :: Read in English Serbian military will serve in US-led mission