Joint exercises of the airborne units of Serbian and Russian armed forces have been organized in Serbia couple of times. The operations involved deployment of the Russian BMD-2 armoured vehicles which, directly after they were dropped with the use of the parachutes, were involved in live-fire training exercise at the Nikintsi range, known as the “Slavic Brotherhood”.

The current exercise involves the “peacekeeping” units. The exercise is carried out jointly by the Special Brigade of the Serbian Army and the Spetsnaz unit of the VDV airborne component. In order to determine the details of the joint exercise taking place in Serbia, a working group of the Russian VDV airborne component officers is currently visiting Belgrade. The talks are to last until 5th February.

The exercise is planned to take place in Mid-February or in March this year. The exercise is a part of the initiative related to expanded military collaboration between Russia and Serbia, once Belgrade has withdrawn from its cooperation with NATO. This is viewed as a potential threat for the international security in Europe.