The Serbian Defense Ministry has decided to bring back two elite brigade level units, Minister Aleksandar Vulin told a ceremony in a barracks in Pancevo over the weekend.

Under the decision, the Serbian military will get back the 63rd Parachute Brigade and the 72nd Special Operations Brigade. The 63rd was one of the elite units carried over from the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) while the 72nd was a special forces unit formed in 1992 in what was then the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ). The two units were merged along with two other special forces units into the Special Brigade in 2006. Both were downgraded to battalion level.  

Vulin told the ceremony that the decision was taken to “correct the injustice towards the dead and the people saved by those heroes”. “Only an ungrateful people and army that is not free and under foreign command would decide to loose the names of the 72nd and 63rd brigades, hide them and forget them,” he said.  

Chief of Staff General Milan Mojsilovic said that the decision was taken to raise reaction speed and simplify the chain of command to counter challenge, risks and threats.  

Both brigades will be deployed in their traditional bases – the 63rd in Nis and the 72nd in Pancevo.