I would like to start with perhaps the most important thing we are doing with the Serbian Armed Forces is joint participation in peacekeeping missions. Probably many people do not even know, but members of the military police of the Serbian Army were stationed in Cyprus in the UN peacekeeping mission as part of the British contingent, Colonel Sasha Toums, the British military attaché in Serbia, said in the podcast "Half an Hour of Demostat." Speaking about the Plan of Bilateral Military Cooperation between the United Kingdom and Serbia, which was signed in March this year, our interlocutor pointed out that it is a very massive plan, "from my point of view, very exciting", and that joint participation in the mentioned peacekeeping mission "lasts about three years and we believe that it is one of the main components of cooperation between our two countries".

"If you allow it, I want to pay tribute to the Serbian soldiers for their contribution, to send soldiers on peacekeeping missions, it is an exceptional thing, and it is very good that we do it together, it is an exceptional privilege for us. Of course, thats not the only thing we do together. When I think about it, I would say that probably the most important areas of our cooperation are many segments, like human resources, but for me it is probably one of the most important Military Medical Cooperation. For several years we have been building medical cooperation with the Serbian Army. And we came to the point that the head of the British military sanitary Department of the United Kingdom and the chief of the military sanitary Department of Serbia established professional relations and got to know each other well. Our major general is now a visiting professor in Belgrade at Military Medical Academy. Its a really nice circumstance for us. And hes coming and hes already given a series of lectures, says Colonel Toums.

Speaking about other important areas of military cooperation between the UK and Serbia, the British military attaché stated: “another very important segment is that we have a large auxiliary activity. I think about 18 activities are planned for next year, exchange of doctors, medical staff, people attending courses in toxicology”.

“The British neurosurgeon participated in one of the conferences here a very good professional exchange. There are a number of other similar activities, including nurse-level exchanges. This year several nurses visited the UK to attend a ceremony in honour of Florence Nightingale. I think it reflects something else and it is a part of the shared values and common history of our two countries, which we may discuss later. Its a whole Army Medical exchange of experiences. The fact is that the nurses were there to celebrate a proud tradition, a proud heritage, most of which is connected with the first World War, when there were many nurses and doctors from Scotland, I think, first of all, Elsa Inglis, Elizabeth Ross, the doctors who came here, stay for a long time and tried to help contain the typhus epidemic. We are also engaged in other business, most of which are related to professional military exchange. We have a number of courses in the United Kingdom attended by officers of the Serbian Army. There is also an exchange of officers that takes place every year, Colonel Toums  explains.

Demostats interlocutor points out that as far as academic exchange is concerned, senior officers of Serbia come every year for training, “and with them we proudly share our military experience as much as possible. This year we are honoured to have been addressed by the UK Minister of defence, which shows the high level of engagement and how much we appreciate this cooperation”.

“Were also trying to allocate significant resources and time for collaborative learning, for what we call "study trips" when you look back on history and try to learn. We do this on the example of the Thessaloniki front. In addition, we have plans to do something related to Military Medical Cooperation. To end this topic, I will add another strong part of our military cooperation-that is bringing in a high-ranking army. Since I took office here, the minister of defence of Serbia has visited Great Britain, followed by the visit of our minister of defence to Serbia. At that time, the previous deputy chief of the General Staff visited Great Britain, and this summer the commander of our land army was in Serbia. We hope that the commander of the Serbian Army will visit the United Kingdom next year”, the British military attaché said.

Answering the question of what were the key points in British-Serbian military cooperation in the last two centuries, our interlocutor points out that this is "a very interesting point, we have had a very extensive military cooperation in the last two centuries".

In my opinion, this collaboration probably began in 1837, in the year when British Colonel Hodges came and presented his credentials here in Serbia. I think he was the second foreign figure in history to do so. The story begins a long time ago. We were allies for a long time. The First World War is perhaps the most important point to begin with. I think it is important to remember the British Admiral Troubridge, who came at the beginning of World War I and helped organize the defence of Belgrade, the establishment of the Danube fleet and was responsible for helping the Serbian Armed Forces at that time. Unfortunately, as we all know, the Serbian Army was forced to retreat to the South. He was authorized to help Serbian soldiers move from the Albanian coast to Corfu, where they recovered. He remained there until the end of World War I on the Thessaloniki front and eventually returned with the forces that Won, explains Colonel Sasha Toums.

According to Demostat interlocutor, during World War II "there were again many interactions between our two countries, we had a large number of high-ranking Special Operations officers who came to Serbia and spent a lot of time helping to defeat the Nazis".

"Interestingly, there is a fascinating part of the story, a lot of little things that seem to have had individuals who are mostly not mentioned. One of these is that along with the Serbs were two British who helped organize the first evacuation from the area later used for Operation Halliard, which, of course, became a much more important matter for the Americans. And then, if youll excuse me, Id like to add something from a personal level, a relationship that is very important to me. I recently learned that my uncle here was a British military attaché from 1945 to 1948. He was a prisoner of war in World War II captured by the Germans at Dunkirk in 1940. He spent a lot of time in captivity together with a Serbian officer, I dont know exactly how it happened, but he learned the Serbian language while in the camp. When the war ended, all he wanted was to travel, and after learning the Serbian language, he was pleased to come to Serbia. So Im glad to be here, its part of a family tradition for me and Im glad to report that this story has repeated itself”, he notes.

Referring to the UKs decision to place additional troops in Kosovo after the tragic events that occurred in late September, the British military attaché emphasizes that "they are there as part of the NATO peacekeeping mission, as part of KFOR, and the decision to send them was made in response to the request of the Supreme unified command of the Alliance".

Of course, the UK was more than happy about it. As for the numbers, by September we had 400 troops and they were part of the "strategic reserve", then another 200 were deployed. And I hope that we will see an increase in capacity thanks to the deployment of impartial, professional soldiers capable of creating an environment that will be more conducive to the maintenance of the peacekeeping mission, Colonel Toums notes.

Assessing the importance of NATO for British defence policy, Demostats interlocutor stated: "NATO is really essential for British defence policy. And I think NATO is really the cornerstone of British defence. It is the most prominent organization with 31 member states and I think the total population of these members is about a billion people, and the essence is collective protection. Thats what I want to emphasize-its about collective defence, allowing people to decide for themselves what they want to do, and we need to address a future where we have common values, common goals. NATO is something that the UK has fully incorporated into its policy and will in the future become the cornerstone of our defence.

Asked if he thought Serbia would benefit if it became a NATO member, the British military attaché said: ”I think that is an absolutely fascinating question. I would answer that question in the following way - I think that Serbia could benefit if it became a member of NATO, by strengthening relations with NATO. What I would like to point out is that anyone who wants to join NATO should do so on the basis of their will, their judgment. This decision would be sovereign. But I think there are many ways that Serbia and NATO can cooperate, and they are, indeed, cooperating at the moment”.

As he explains: “the main instrument of cooperation is Partnership for peace, Serbia has an individual action plan, which allows it to align with NATO measures, as well as a department for cooperation with NATO, within the Ministry of Defence. I think there are a number of prominent goals in this cooperation – the first is interoperability. NATO forces are able to work together, they carry out joint exercises, exchange operational procedures and much more”.

“I think the least we can do is to cooperate in multinational peacekeeping missions, and I think that thanks to the alignment with NATO, Serbia can participate in that, and, therefore, deploy its forces in peacekeeping missions, which we have already talked about. And I would just like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to Serbia for everything it has done in that domain, including working at a field hospital in the Central African Republic. The other thing I want to say is professionalism. NATO is an organization that strives to be the best, there are a number of domains in NATO where people come together to share experiences and bring out the best in military practices that we have. And if we go back to what we already talked about - military medicine, there is a department within NATO that deals with that, and Serbia has observer status, and I think it is a great opportunity for Serbia to understand what is happening in NATO, but also for NATO to understand what is happening in Serbia, and, I say again-this kind of professional exchange is very important, points out the British military attaché”.

Regarding Russias strong opposition to NATO expansion, which sees it as a threat to its own security, Colonel Sasha Toums said: “I think there are a lot of opinions about NATO, but one thing that is of great importance to both me and the UK is that NATO is an essentially defensive organization, that collective defense is the essence of NATO. There is nothing in NATO that is provocative, there is nothing in NATO that seeks to expand NATO beyond those states that are already members. The second thing I would like to emphasize is that if, say, we use Sweden as an example at the moment, NATO is an organization where people want to be based on their own will. So, to anyone who has any fear of NATO, I would say that it is a voluntary organization, people are there because they want it, and that it is a defence organization”.

Speaking of the United Kingdoms military assistance to Ukraine, the interlocutor of Demostat points out: “I think the British military assistance to Ukraine is very strong”.

“First, the British Government is truly appalled by the Russian aggression in Ukraine and thinks it is illegal and unjust on the part of the Russians. And we really think its a terrible situation. So we stand with Ukraine, we believe that Ukraine has the right to be a democratic and independent state, and the British government and military have a role to play in that. I think one of the most important things weve done is help train Ukrainian soldiers, 37,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by the British Army in the last two years. We also helped with the equipment. We gave a lot of equipment-rifles, artillery, air defense, armored vehicles... all of this is at the disposal of the Ukrainian army. And, of course, its expensive, but we rightfully want to support it, and I think it was given more than £ 2.3 billion last year, and the same amount will be allocated this year. And, finally, its not just us, theres a big international coalition that wants to support Ukraine, and what the British Army and the British government want is to "unify" that assistance, and we encourage everyone to support us in that”.

Hospitality in Serbia

Asked if he had anything else to say to the public in Serbia, the British military attaché points out:”I think the main message I would like to send is to thank you for being here in Serbia. This is the most exciting time of my military service. During my time as Military Attaché, I came across nothing but hospitality, and therefore I am sure that I will leave with the same feeling my grandfather-uncle had - with great respect for this part of the world and its people. Thank you very much”.