The Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vasko Gjurchinovski in an interview for the national television MRT 1 TV talked about the current engagement of the Army and the activities during the state of crisis due to Covid-19, the transformation processes, the current state of the Army, the engagement on international level, as well as the upcoming plans and tasks.
At the beginning of the interview, General Gjurchinovski, on his and on behalf of the members of the Army, expressed his condolences to the families of the citizens who passed away due to Covid-19, two of which, unfortunately, were members of the Army, who lost the fight against the virus.
Talking about the engagement of the members of the Army in the prevention of spreading of the Covid-19 virus, which is conducted in accordance with the decision by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the General noted that the Army has engaged about 280 members in the support of the institutions.
The Army acts in support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in accordance with its competence, in securing the state borders and hospitals, while in the support of the Ministry of Health it is continuously engaged in different forms since the beginning of the pandemic. More precisely, the military medical personnel comprised of doctors and nurses is engaged, also transport services are provided for the needs of the emergency ambulance and the needs of the local self-governments regarding the health of the citizens.
“Within the bounds of our possibilities, we put all the resources, material and human, in function of the needs of the Ministry of Health in order to deal with the pandemic more efficiently” – noted Gjurchinovski.
Discussing the integration processes as a full-fledged NATO member, General Gjurchinoski said: “I expect the integration in military-defence context to be completed until the following autumn and teams at all levels to implement the processes continuously and in coordination: in the area of personnel management, logistics, operations, planning, training and exercises, all of which are common duties and responsibilities.”
The continuity of budget increase and the planning in the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Ministry of Defence provide possibilities to achieve the goals in the area of equipment and modernization, noted the Chief of the General Staff regarding the expectations of NATO.
In the answer to the question about some attempts by certain members of the Army to involve the institution in the daily political developments, General Gjurchinovski categorically stated that he condemns any type of interference of politics in the Army and from the Army towards outside, while expressing his personal position that he does not support and he condemns any membership of the members of the Army in political parties because that goes beyond the competence of the Army.
Talking about the participation of the members of the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia in the peacekeeping operations, he pointed out that at the moment we participate in the missions “Resolute Support” in Afghanistan, “EUFOR-Altea” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, “UNIFIL” in Lebanon and the NATO mission “KFOR” in Kosovo. Furthermore, we have already begun sending staff officers in the EU mission in the Central African Republic. During the upcoming period, we will participate with a surgical team in Afghanistan and we will increase our participation in the “KFOR” mission.
At the end of the interview, General Gjurcinovski paid public tribute to all members of the Army, soldiers, officers and civilians who work really hard to implement and complete all the expectations of the state leadership and the General Staff and sent them a message to support all institutions where they are engaged in a professional and dignified manner.
