Aleksandar Vulin

BELGRADE - Serbia and Russia are carefully building and maintaining special relations, Serbian and Russian Defence Ministers Aleksandar Vulin and Sergey Shoygu agreed at a meeting in Belgrade on Friday.

Vulin and Shoygu - who is in Belgrade for the city's WWII Liberation Day commemorations - met in the old army general staff building.

BELGRADE - Serbia is pursuing an independent foreign policy and remains committed to military neutrality, Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said at a meeting with Lt Gen Yuri Khatchaturov, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), on Thursday.

BELGRADE - Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin met on Thursday with Michail Kostarakos, chairman of the European Union Military Committee.

Serbia's foreign policy goal is to maintain the status of a militarily neutral country, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Serbia is marking the anniversary of the liberation of its capital, Belgrade, in 1944 from Nazi German occupation on Friday with a military exercise displaying Russian MIG fighter jets, the Serbian Defence Ministry has announced.

Generals and senior officers of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) who held command positions during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo will teach at Belgrade's Military Academy.

Beta is reporting this on Wednesday, citing an article published in the daily Vecernje Novosti.

US Ambassador in Belgrade Kyle Scott said on Monday that he was "not interfering in Serbia's internal affairs."

Instead, said the diplomat - who was last week advised against such practices by Serbia's foreign minister - he was "commenting on certain goings-on in the country."

Pro-government media outlets have accused US ambassador Kyle Scott of interfering in Serbia's affairs after the diplomat criticised Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin for praising convicted war criminals.

The daily Vecernje novosti on Friday accused Scott of wanting to control the Serbian government.

The US ambassador in Belgrade should not meddle in Serbia's internal affairs - our ambassadors abroad don't do it, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Thursday.

The US ambassador in Belgrade should not meddle in Serbia's internal affairs - our ambassadors abroad don't do it, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Thursday.

The Washington Post is reporting that Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has praised Vladimir Lazarevic.

Lazarevic is a retired Yugoslav Army (VJ) general whom the Hague Tribunal has found guilty of war crimes.