The Russian Federation and the Republic of Serbia will continue to closely collaborate on the whole range of bilateral, regional and international issues

The readiness to continue close collaboration on the whole range of bilateral, regional and international issues was emphasized. According to the kremlin.ru portal, this agreement was reached during a telephone conversation between the President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. The conversation was initiated by the Serbian side. Earlier, Aleksandar Vulin, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Serbia, reported that on Wednesday the Government of the Republic of Serbia decided to introduce a six-month moratorium on participation in any international military exercises.

The tactical exercise Slavic Brotherhood 2020 begins today at a proving ground near Brest, the Republic of Belarus, under the command of a representative of the Special Forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. The joint group will spend several days practicing unit interaction in performing counterterrorism-related tasks.

According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Slavic Brotherhood exercise “has been being conducted annually for the last five years in one of the participating states. It was first held in Russia in 2015, a year later it was organized in Serbia, and in June 2017 it was held in Belarus for the first time. Two years ago, it was once again held in Russia, and last year, Serbia received the exercise partners.” The Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that “Russia respects Serbia’s decision to put on hold any joint military exercises with other countries for six months.”