Vucevic on reintroducing mandatory military service: Men over 30 years will also be trained

Photo: Ministry of Defense

Defense Minister Milos Vucevic has said that reintroduction of mandatory military service is a political decision, which will be based on the assessment by the most responsible people and those with most expert knowledge, from the Ministry and the Army (VS) General Staff.

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He said that he is ready to take on the responsibility of proposing an appropriate solution to the president of Serbia, the Government and the Assembly when the analyses have been completed.

"Here, it cannot be a question of whether this topic is popular among the public and whether they express themselves positively or negatively about it on social networks. The only decisive reason will be whether that is in the interest of the defense of Serbia or not," Vucevic told the Odbrana ("Defense") magazine.

He added for the daily Blic that he believes that all adult citizens up to the age of 30 should undergo military training, as well as those over that age.

The minister said that a shorter military service, lasting three weeks, should be introduced for them.

Speaking about equipping the army, he said that certain items were ordered and paid for from Russia before the start of the conflict in Ukraine, but that, due to sanctions enforced (by countries between Serbia and Russia), they could not be delivered.

"That doesn't harm Russia in any way, but exclusively Serbia, and we are also aware of this, as are those countries that do not allow the delivery. On the other hand, some Western-produced items are also not being delivered, even though they have been paid for, because of, to us, insufficiently comprehensible reasons," he stressed.

Vucevic added that he believes that the talks that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is having with of Western countries will soon yield results and that the problems related to those deliveries will be overcome.

He assessed that the Serbian Army today is "many times stronger than it has ever been and it represents one of the pillars of Serbia's statehood."

(Telegraf.rs)