Vucic: Deployment of Croatian troops near our border no threat to us

DAVOS - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says deployment of Croatian combat vehicles near the border with Serbia will be no particular threat to Serbia.

"They are sending them to Beli Manastir, a town that is at an equal distance from the border with Serbia as it is from the border with Hungary," Vucic told Pink TV in Davos on Thursday evening after a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

He added that Hungary was a NATO country and that it was safe to assume Croatia had no intent of getting into conflict with other NATO member states "or attacking militarily neutral Austria."

"I see no particular threat to us there. For many reasons, I do not want to say a single bad word about anyone. I do not think there is serious threat to Serbia there."

Croatia has the right to arm itself and has one of the strongest armies in the region, he said.

"They were three times stronger than us about 10-12 years ago, but we have changed that situation by investing in our army," Vucic said.

Commenting on a Global Firepower report that says Serbia has climbed to the 56th position in the internet portal's world military strength rankings, Vucic said Serbia had many more things Global Firepower was unaware of.

"We do not have to boast of everything we have, but it is important to strengthen our army because, without a powerful army, you are a nobody in the contemporary world," he said.

"I especially look forward to investments in our domestic industry - we need more knowledge and we will have to pay our engineers more, and then we will also invest in UAVs. Hopefully we will be able to start series production by the end of the year," Vucic also said.