How will Serbia's military cooperation with Russia and China affect relations with the US?

Foto: Tanjug/Tanja Valic

The Ohio National Guard's relations with Serbia will not change because of Serbia' developed military cooperation with Russia and increasingly with China - and the Serbian government has to do what is best for Serbia, said Ohio National Guard Commander Major General John Harris.

"It's 2019, it's not just about bilateral relations anymore. The Serbian government must do what is best for Serbia. Our goal is for our two sides to have the best military forces they can have, and a central part of that effort is building trust in our relations. We leave political decisions to politicians," Harris told daily Politika.

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Harris, who was among those invited to the promotion ceremony for the youngest officers of the Serbian Army in Belgrade on Saturday, has been visiting Serbia for several days as part of the Serbia-Ohio partnership program that has been implemented since 2006 to improve military cooperation with the United States.

Harris, who was the commander of a KFOR battalion from 2004 to 2005, said that he had a series of meetings with Serbian officials during his visit to Serbia, including with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army General Milan Mojsilovic.

"We spoke about the activities we are carring out, such as those in the areas of cybersecurity, religious services, aviation and medical training conducted at the VMA. We plan to develop cooperation in the field of cybersecurity, to continue cooperation within our partnership in all fields, we plan a new trilateral military-medical deployment between the Ohio National Guard, the Serbian Army and the Army of Angola," he told the Belgrade daily said.

Harris added that he hopes this deployment will be carried out in Angola next year.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)