Lt Gen Maxim at NATO Military Committee session (22 January) On 21 – 22 January, a regular NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence session was held in Brussels. The Slovak Republic was represented by the SVK Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen Milan Maxim. The first round of the conference, headed by the NATO Military Committee Chairman, Gen Knud Bartels, was dedicated to the situational summary of threats to the eastern and southern flanks of the Alliance’s borders. The other rounds dealt with co-operation with the Mediterranean Dialogue partner countries, future of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan and with activities planned for the year 2015. Lt Gen Maxim also met the incumbent SVK Ambassador to NATO, Tomáš Valášek, and soldiers serving in the SVK Permanent Delegation to NATO.
● On 20 January, 2nd Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Maj Gen Pavel Macko made a visit to the Nitra-based anti-aircraft missile brigade to check the training of the unit preparing for deployment to UNFICYP peace support operation in the upcoming rotation. He attended the medical preparation of the members of the force protection company to verify their English language proficiency in this field. At the end of his visit, he expressed satisfaction with the training and evinced interest in attending the final tactical exercise.
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(23 January) The relations between the Slovak Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany are at an excellent level and in the future, they could cover even more projects in the field of defence – such was the result of a bilateral meeting of the SVK Defence Minister, Martin Glváč, and the Ambassador of Germany, Thomas Götz, held on 21 January. “I would be very glad, if co-operation in the field of military education, especially student exchange programmes, was reestablished,” briefed the SVK Defence Minister. The Ambassador of Germany confirmed his interest in co-operation strengthening. “It is important that the connections be at various levels, including the military level, so that deploying your and our soldiers is more effective,” emphasized Thomas Götz. According to both of them, co-operation between Slovakia and Germany is excellent even within NATO and the EU. On Thursday, 22 January, Martin Glváč welcomed the Ambassador of France, Didier Lopinot, who appreciated the apprised modernization projects of the SVK MoD. “The fact you have commenced the defence strengthening process is crucial,” stated the Ambassador. The SVK Defence Minister assured him of his support of the Slovak-French Armaments Committee, which is to hold a session in Slovakia this year. At the same time, he expressed his sincere condolences to the Republic of France in connection with the terrorist attacks in Paris. On Friday, 23 January, the SVK Defence Minister welcomed the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain, Félix Valdés (see the picture). The main topic of the meeting was bilateral relations in the field of security and defence. “I see a large scope for strengthening our cooperation that could be very dynamic,” briefed Martin Glváč. Félix Valdés shares a similar opinion. “Spain would like to closely co-operate with Slovakia,” he stated. Both of them agreed on further and more intensive co-operation of our countries in the field of education and training.
● On 19 January, the representatives of the Military Diplomatic Corps made a visit to the rocket-launcher division of the SVK Land Forces to get an insight into its structure organization, its main role and tasks. The soldiers from the 1st rocket-launcher battery provided for the dynamic demonstration of both a rocketlauncher RM 70/85 MODULAR and an ammunition vehicle. As a token of appreciation, the representatives of the Military Diplomatic Corps presented the rocket-launcher division of the SVK Land Forces with the Badge of the Corps of Defence Attachés. On Monday, the military diplomats made also a visit to the Rožňava garrison. Deputy Commander of the CBRN battalion Maj Ondrej Iliško and Chief of Staff of the rocket-launcher division Maj Ján Hric introduced their units. The defence attachés saw a static display of the equipment and materiel and a dynamic demonstration of the decontamination equipment.
In spirit of cooperation
(25 January) The State Secretary Miloš Koterec met with the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Hungary Péter Siklósi on a regular annual session of the Slovak – Hungarian mixed commission. They evaluated bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and crisis management, the development of the international security environment and the Slovak Presidency in the Visegrad Group. “Our cooperation is intense and amicable. Besides military education and training and the joint deployment in multinational operations we intend to promote the cooperation in the field of domestic crisis management,” stated State Secretary Koterec. The both countries, together with Romania and Ukraine, have been a party to the TISA project since 2002, which is aimed at providing assistance to the civilian population and mitigating consequences of natural disasters in the Tisa river-basin. According to the State Secretary, they seek to extend cooperation so that it would involve the other countries and other problematic rivers, since “natural disasters know no borders.”
● Early in the morning of 19 January, a preventive action took place in the premises of the initial training company, when cadets of the preparatory service were searched for narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. The activity, which was organized in cooperation with the military authorities of the training battalion based in Martin, was aimed at maintaining security and detecting the presence of the above mentioned substances. Among those engaged in the preventive action were members of the military police, the dog-handlers from the Corps of Prison and Court Guard from the prison for juvenile offenders in Sučany and members of the SVK Police Corps with dogs. Though focused primarily on search and detection, a preventive aspect of the action needs to be considered. Equally, it checked the coordination and cooperation of the security forces. ● On the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the aircraft tragedy in Hejce, Hungary, SVK Land Forces Commander Brig Gen Ondřej Novosad met with Commander of the Hungarian Land Forces Brig Gen Gábor Böröndi. Among the topics they discussed were the changes introduced in the Land Forces of the both countries, evaluation of bilateral cooperation in 2014, specification of joint activities to be held in 2015 and further possibilities of mutual cooperation in the years to come. ● By laying wreaths to the grave of Gen Ján Ambruš in his native village Kojatice, the members of the Gen Ján Ambruš Helicopter Wing based in Prešov paid tribute to their colleague, Lieutenant Dušan Paľuch, who met his death in the wreck of An-24 aircraft on 19 January 2006 in the vicinity of the Hungarian village Hejce, In the cemetery Slávičie údolie (the Nightingale Valley) in Bratislava, the soldiers from the Prešov-based wing paid tribute to Col Gen Ján Ambruš, from whose death 21 years elapsed on 21 January.
“As soon as possible, we would like to resolve the issue of cross-border cooperation of our air forces, namely in terms of safeguarding airspace, and, in a long term, we plan to get all V4 countries involved in the task of joint protection of the airspace,” added M. Koterec. The representatives of defence departments are not only determined to continue organizing joint training of military scuba divers and CBRN specialists, but will also seek to develop further interface capabilities in the field of preparation of the armed forces of the both countries. As a part of the negotiation, the state secretaries exchanged their views on the development of security situation in the world, namely in Ukraine and the Middle East. Miloš Koterec informed his counterpart of the activities planned for the second half of the year of the SVK Presidency in the Visegrad Group.
M. Glváč: It is our duty to pay tribute to the victims (19 January) In the Hungarian village of Hejce and on the Borsó Hill, on 19 January, the SVK Defence Minister, Martin Glváč paid tribute to 42 victims of the largest aviation tragedy in the history of the SVK Armed Forces (AF). Nine years ago, only a few kilometres from the Slovak borders, a military aircraft carrying home members of the Slovak contingent KFOR from Kosovo crashed. Only one soldier survived the accident. The SVK President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Andrej Kiska emphasized that we did not forget about the largest SVK AF tragedy. “42 peo-
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ple died at that place, their lives were untimely ended. They were a credit to our country, and now it is our duty to pay tribute to their memory,” he claimed. The SVK Defence Minister expressed his thanks to all from both Slovakia and Hungary who participate in preparations of the commemoration ceremony each year. Several memorials remind us of the largest aviation tragedy in the history of the SVK AF directly at the spot, and since 2007 also a memorial in Hejce. Most of the soldiers who died in the tragedy were members of the Mechanized Battalion Trebišov.
January 19 - 25, 2015