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International Military Cooperation – Serbia – 2022

MILITARY EXERCISES

Serbia is specific in the region because it maintains military cooperation both with NATO and Russia. Hence, in 2021, Serbia participated in 14 exercises with NATO members and partners and 4 with Russia. In 2019, there were 5 exercises with Russia and 23 with NATO members.

Besides the pandemic, Serbia’s military cooperation in 2020 was interrupted by the decision to freeze all activities with international partners for 6 months. In order to avoid sending its representatives to an exercise in Belarus amid the controversial presidential elections aftermath in the summer of 2020, but also to preserve good relations with its Russian and Belarus partners, Serbia decided to suspend its activities with all international partners.

DONATIONS

In the past three years, Serbia received substantial donations from Russia and Belarus (30 T-72MS tanks and 30 BRDM-2MS armoured vehicles from Russia, four MIG-29 fighter jets from Belarus). However, their value has not been disclosed to the public. According to an MoD response to BCSP’s request for information of public importance, information about the donations from Russia and Belarus are regarded as foreign classified data, entrusted by another state to be kept confidential.

Top foreign donors (2019-2020)

United States of America (EUR 13,261,918)
China (EUR 755,000)
Republic of Korea (EUR 167,425)

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
International Military Cooperation – Serbia

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International Military Cooperation – Croatia – 2022

MILITARY EXERCISES

Viewed on the annual basis, Croatia participates in the greatest number of exercises in the region; however, predominantly in large multinational ones. The country’s top exercising partner are  the United States of America, with whom Croatia also has bilateral exercises aimed at building  interoperability for special operations. Croatia also participates and hosts a number of regional  exercises, such as those focused on navy operations (usually with Slovenia, Italy, Albania,  Montenegro and Greece), but also within the framework of regional initiatives such as the CEDC,  the B-9 forum or the Adriatic Charter (A5).

DONATIONS

Croatia does not keep a publicly available centralised list of donations. According to information available from the Croatian yearly defence reports and the information disclosed on its MoD website, it can be concluded that the United States of America have been the biggest donor to the Croatian defence system in the past three years.

US donations (2019-2021)

2 helicopters UH-60M „Black Hawk“
6 new Ford 3542 D Cargo trucks (EUR 898,722)
Range Control Tower built by the U.S. Army in Europe
Dimilitarisation of 890 tonnes of surplus ammunition through the ITF fund
Marine pollution centre (EUR 436,489)
Heliport (EUR 1,545,546)

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
International Military Cooperation – Croatia

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Strategic Document – BiH – 2022

NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY: 2006
NATIONAL DEFENCE STRATEGY: 2008

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National interests and goals (as defined in the Strategies):
Protection and consolidation of National interests and goals (as defined in the Strategies): Establishing and developing security system institutions that will be able to respond to all risks and threats // Accession to international security conventions, European and Euro-Atlantic structures

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Main threats:
Political and social animosities caused by the war and nationalist extremism // Incomplete implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement // Problems related to political transition // Critical regional points, such as Kosovo and Metohija.

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Main principles of national security policy:
Democratic, civilian control of the military and parliamentary oversight // Transparency of defence-related activities, including defence planning and budgeting // Integration into Euro-Atlantic collective security structures

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Regional cooperation:
Bosnia and Herzegovina has no territorial claims involving neighbouring and other states, nor does it perceive neighbouring and other states as hostile and a possible threat to its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Therefore, it is especially important that BiH further develops good neighbourly relations based on the principles of equality and cooperation. Improving good relations and cooperation with neighbours and countries in the wider region, the development of democratic processes in these countries, and the process of their European integration have a positive impact on strengthening the internal security of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Regional threats:
South-east remains the most sensitive area of today’s Europe. Efforts toward secession, autonomy and independence of certain ethnic groups are still present in this area, which, together with the relatively high concentration of military capacities, further complicates the overall security situation.

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Relations with NATO:
The key element for achieving the unquestionable collective military security of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to become a member of NATO, as in that case its national sovereignty and territorial integrity would be guaranteed by the Alliance. Membership in the Partnership for Peace is the first step in that direction. Further reform in the field of defence, which will lead to full professionalisation, equipping and training the BiH Armed Forces in accordance with NATO standards, will enable BiH to make a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the Security Policy in the future.

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Relations with the EU:
The commitment to gradual integration into the European Union implies readiness to accept the provisions, legal structure and organisational mechanisms of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

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International military cooperation:
As an active participant in collective security at the global level through membership in the United Nations, the OSCE and the Council of Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina is engaged in international peace efforts.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Strategic Documents – Bosnia and Hezgegovina

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Defence expenditures – Albania – 2022

Albanian defence expenditure has experienced a steady increase since 2017, with the exception of 2020, when spending on defence stagnated.

This stagnation can be attributed to the fight against the pandemic. Even though it has not reached the NATO goal of 2% of GDP, the defence expenditure’s share of Albania’s total government expenditure increased from 4.5% in 2017 to almost 9% that was planned for 2022.

2021

Share of GDP 1.38%
Share of total government
expenditure 6.82%

The Albanian defence budget does not tend to change much in the course of a year, staying within the envisaged budget (+- 4%). In fact, it is usually slightly underspent.

The Albanian defence budget is the least transparent and detailed in the region, as it shows only several gene-ral categories: Planning, Management and Administration, Combat Forces, Military Education, Combat Support and Health Support. Hence, the budget structure and the
amounts spent on personnel, or arms and equipment, remain inconclusive from publicly available information. Data provided to NATO show that the gradual rise of Albanian defence expenditure can be attributed to small increases in the arms and equipment spending each year.

* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.

  1. Albanian budget structure graph is designed with the information from the NATO database. Since it could not be derived from the government balance sheets or budgets due to the highly aggregated stucture of the documents, it should not be directly compared with the budget structure of other countries in this report.

2022 – Balkan Defence Monitor
Defence Expenditures – Albania

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