DM calls claims he wanted NATO air show "lies"

Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac says it is absurd and a lie that he wanted to a NATO air show to be held in Serbia. The minister in this way denied a report in the Belgrade-daily Blic, which carried a U.S. diplomatic cable published by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. DM calls claims he wanted NATO air show "lies" The daily published the details from an October 2008 cable which describes Sutanovac's visit to NATO and points out that a new era in relations between NATO and Serbia is in sight. The defense minister strongly reacted to media reports about the cables from the U.S. Embassy published by WikiLeaks and criticized the way journalists were putting the titles together. “It came out today that I was advocating a NATO air show in the territory of Serbia, which is absurd and a lie. You can see in the cable that it is a lie, but the title is such that it disavows the entire text,” he stressed. Sutanovac says that the fact is that that countries that are not NATO members also took part in the air show and that Serbia invited Russia and China, “which shows that our wish was to create something that Serbia did not have up until then”. The air show which is mentioned in the cables was held on September 13, 2009 at Batajnica airport. 40 planes from 14 countries took part in it. The defense minister added that there had been more than 100,000 citizens at the air show who wanted to see the aircrafts, who were unburdened by the past and wanted to see technical achievements. The value of the aircrafts that took part in the Belgrade air show was almost USD 1bn. According to the cables released by WikiLeaks, Sutanovac criticized NATO for taking on the task of reforming Kosovo's security structures. NATO officials pointed out that they were satisfied with the cooperation with Serbia and that a change was visible in Serbia’s state policy. The Serbian defense minister and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker also discussed security situation in Kosovo and Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. In a separate bilateral meeting, Ambassador Volker again voiced his clear and strong support for Serbia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, and Sutanovac answered that expectations in Serbia for its engagement with the West are high, it is said in the cable. “He commented on the Belgrade buildings that have not been repaired since the bombings of the 1990s, but mentioned that he informed Embassy Belgrade that he wants to open a new era in relations,” the U.S. ambassador to NATO wrote. “Bearing in mind the public diplomacy challenge, Sutanovac suggested holding an air show in Belgrade that would bring in ‘NATO aircraft’ from multiple countries to be viewed by the public (he promised he could get 100,000 spectators to attend such an event),” it is said in the cable. Dragan Sutanovac

DM calls claims he wanted NATO air show "lies"

The daily published the details from an October 2008 cable which describes Šutanovac's visit to NATO and points out that a new era in relations between NATO and Serbia is in sight.

The defense minister strongly reacted to media reports about the cables from the U.S. Embassy published by WikiLeaks and criticized the way journalists were putting the titles together.

“It came out today that I was advocating a NATO air show in the territory of Serbia, which is absurd and a lie. You can see in the cable that it is a lie, but the title is such that it disavows the entire text,” he stressed.

Šutanovac says that the fact is that that countries that are not NATO members also took part in the air show and that Serbia invited Russia and China, “which shows that our wish was to create something that Serbia did not have up until then”.

The air show which is mentioned in the cables was held on September 13, 2009 at Batajnica airport. 40 planes from 14 countries took part in it.

The defense minister added that there had been more than 100,000 citizens at the air show who wanted to see the aircrafts, who were unburdened by the past and wanted to see technical achievements. The value of the aircrafts that took part in the Belgrade air show was almost USD 1bn.

According to the cables released by WikiLeaks, Šutanovac criticized NATO for taking on the task of reforming Kosovo's security structures.

NATO officials pointed out that they were satisfied with the cooperation with Serbia and that a change was visible in Serbia’s state policy. The Serbian defense minister and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker also discussed security situation in Kosovo and Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.

In a separate bilateral meeting, Ambassador Volker again voiced his clear and strong support for Serbia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, and Šutanovac answered that expectations in Serbia for its engagement with the West are high, it is said in the cable.

“He commented on the Belgrade buildings that have not been repaired since the bombings of the 1990s, but mentioned that he informed Embassy Belgrade that he wants to open a new era in relations,” the U.S. ambassador to NATO wrote.

“Bearing in mind the public diplomacy challenge, Šutanovac suggested holding an air show in Belgrade that would bring in ‘NATO aircraft’ from multiple countries to be viewed by the public (he promised he could get 100,000 spectators to attend such an event),” it is said in the cable.