Serbia Hosts First-Ever Joint Military Exercise With NATO
Serbia has launched its first-ever joint military exercise with NATO, bringing together around 600 troops from Serbia, Italy, Romania, and Türkiye for interoperability and peacekeeping drills at the Borovac training area.
Serbia and NATO have launched their first-ever joint military exercise, marking a significant development in relations between Belgrade and the Western military alliance nearly three decades after the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia.
The two-week exercise began on May 12 and is scheduled to run until May 23, involving around 600 troops from Serbia, Italy, Romania, and Türkiye. Military planners and observers from France, Germany, Montenegro, the United Kingdom, the United States, and several other NATO member states are also participating.
The drills are being conducted at Serbia’s Borovac training area and focus on interoperability, multinational coordination, and peacekeeping-related operational scenarios. NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples previously confirmed the exercises earlier this year, emphasizing that the activity is taking place at Serbia’s invitation and in line with the country’s officially declared military neutrality policy.
The exercise represents another step in Serbia’s evolving relationship with NATO through the Partnership for Peace framework and the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), despite Belgrade continuing to publicly reject full NATO membership. Public sentiment in Serbia toward the alliance remains sensitive due to the 1999 air campaign.
While Serbia maintains close defence and political ties with Russia, Belgrade has also continued practical cooperation with NATO in areas including peacekeeping training, disaster response, and military interoperability. The latest exercise highlights Serbia’s ongoing balancing act between East and West amid shifting European security dynamics following the war in Ukraine.
