Vucic: No one in world can overrun Serbia today, parade not aimed at political gains

BELGRADE - Serbian President Alessandar Vucic said Saturday's military parade in Belgrade was not being held for political gains but to showcase Serbia's strength as a deterrent to any potential aggressor and to preserve peace, and noted that no one in the world was able to "overrun Serbia today."

"I urge the citizens to attend the parade, to come to see enormous changes, a huge difference and what we have been building together and working on for these 13 years, to see how different this country is," Vucic said on Blic TV.

"We want to show what we have been doing, but we also want to provide a response that will deter potential aggressors. Let us not pretend to be naive. The Pristina-Zagreb-Tirana military alliance was not established because of Austria, Greece, Slovenia and Romania. It was established against Serbia. The military alliance between Ljubljana and Zagreb, in which they speak against Republika Srpska and Serbia, was not established because of Austria or because both Croatia and Slovenia are its southern neighbours - and Austria is militarily neutral. They will be making it against Serbia," Vucic said.

The parade is aimed at showcasing Serbia's strength as a deterrent to any potential aggressor, he said.

"We will not attack anyone, and we do not want to. We want peace and just to preserve our peace, and we cannot preserve our peace by being weak," Vucic said.