The Russian ambassador to Serbia Alexander Bocan - Harchenko has said that the strategic partnership between Moscow and Belgrade is rising to the highest level and that military cooperation between the two countries contributes to the preservation of Serbia’s independence, the Beta news agency has reported.

  “The development of the military and military-technical cooperation, under the two presidents’ supervision, aims to keep Serbia independent, to autonomously decides about its fate and exists in a stable region,” the ambassador said at the ceremony marking the Fatherland Defender Day, the Russian state holiday.

His words came after both the US and European Union expressed concern about the increasingly close link between Belgrade and Moscow, especially after Serbia purchased the Russian-made anti-aircraft defence Pantsir S1 system.

Bocan-Harchenko added that the last week’s meeting of the Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin gave a new incentive to the cooperation between the two countries.

“The modern Russian army carefully nourishes the tradition of the country’s military; it’s equipped in a most modern way and ready to help its friends,” Bocan – Harchenko said.  

The ceremony was attended by Vucic and other Serbia's top officials.