"Only Serbia isn't accepting NATO reality"

Former Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac says Serbia is "the only country in the region that is not ready to accept the reality of membership in NATO."

"You saw what (Macedonian) Prime Minister Zaev said, an agreement between Macedonia and Greece is almost there, and they expect an invitation for NATO, and almost all other countries are already in NATO or going there," the leader of the opposition DS said during a security conference held in Montenegro, Beta reported, quoting the party.

"So, we are surrounded by NATO countries, and Serbia is the only country in the region that is still not ready to accept reality. We are behind the region not only in economic, but also in the security and defense terms," said he.

Speaking about the region, Sutanovac said that when he was minister of defense, "the Serb Republic had NATO membership as its goal."

"As the first Serbian defense minister to visit Sarajevo after the war, I met with (Milorad) Dodik who, as RS prime minister, told a press conference that the Serb Republic was fully committed to Euro-Atlantic integration. Today, the situation is completely different," said Sutanovac.

He assessed that cooperation between the US and Serbia has been "regressing" since Aleksandar Vulin took over as defense minister.

As for Serbia's foreign policy, Sutanovac thinks that Serbian citizens "love Russia the most, but would like to live in the West."