PASULJANSKE LIVADE, Serbia (Reuters) - Under the keen eye of President Aleksandar Vucic and foreign diplomats, Serbia’s military flexed its muscles on Thursday, firing live ordnance in a mock attack on insurgent positions at a training ground east of Belgrade.
The training drill, dubbed Synergy 2018, came three days after Kosovo police used force to scatter Serb protesters in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo’s restive North and briefly detained a Serbian government official.
The incident soured already tense ties between Serbia and Kosovo, its former southern province which declared independence in 2008 after a bloody war a decade earlier.
Army commander Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic said the exercise, involving more than 900 troops, was a part of training plans for 2018.
“We have always had good soldiers, we want to have more of them ... we want them to be even better trained,” Vucic told reporters at the Pasuljanske Livade training range.
Serbia’s military budget in 2018 stood at 70.5 billion dinars (595 million euros), 23.6 percent more than last year.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKBN1H5234