Ponos: Withdrawal from Joint Exercise in Belarus Result of Political Dead End

Zdravko Ponos: A General in Politics

Zdravko Ponos, vice president of the People's Party and former chief of staff of Serbia, has said that Serbia's withdrawal from participation in a joint military exercise in Belarus was the result of a foreign-policy dead end Serbia had been driven into by a government which "apparently has no foreign policy."

Ponos told Newsmax Adria on Sept. 11 that it had not been the right time for Serbia to take part in the exercise anyway, because this year Belarus was not a country to travel to even as a tourist, let alone for an exercise.

According to him, however, the timing of the cancellation was unfortunate and forced. The optimal time to withdraw, he said, had been Aug. 11, when Serbia stood in favor of the European Union's position on the elections in Belarus.

Ponos stressed that an announcement by Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin that "all military exercises are canceled" was a ruse, as Serbia had had no other exercises since the beginning of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and no new ones were planned throughout the year.

The vice president of the People's Party called recent negotiations at the White House a consequence of ignorance, bad faith and coercion.