The Defense and Security Council, chaired by the head of state Jakov Milatovic, could take place in late May or early June, just before the first man of the Army of Montenegro (VCG) Zoran Lazarević the term of that service expires, "Vijesti" learns unofficially.
Milatović's public relations office did not directly answer "Vijesti" when asked when the session was planned to be held and whether the president had discussed it with other members of the supreme command - the leaders of the Parliament and the Government. Andrija Mandić (New Serbian Democracy) and Milojko Spajić (Europe Now Movement). It was stated that sessions are convened by the head of state on his own initiative or at the proposal of a member of the Council, as a rule when there are reasons for it, and that the rules of procedure of that body do not define the obligation to convene sessions “within a certain period of time”.
"The public will be informed about the next session of the Council in a timely manner," Milatović's office said, recalling that the last session was held on February 21, when the highest representatives of the judicial and security institutions analyzed the security situation in the country with members of the Supreme Command.
Brigadier General Lazarević's service ends on June 8th, and the Minister of Defense Dragan Krapović (Democrats) will not, according to unofficial information from "Vijesti", change the proposal it submitted last year - that the candidate for the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro be a colonel Miodrag VuksanovićKrapović, as the newspaper has learned, has in the meantime submitted a new proposal for the dismissal of Lazarević.
The conflict between the two began at the end of August last year after the minister submitted a request to the Council to dismiss Lazarević from the position of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro due to the assessment that a generational change and rejuvenation of the officer cadre were needed. The Supreme Command rejected this because there was no consensus among its members on this. The three-member Council decides unanimously, and Milatović opposed Krapović's proposal, saying that he would support the dismissal of Lazarević when he was told what the brigadier general had not done properly, or what he had done wrong. The remaining two members, Mandić and Spajić, supported Krapović's request.
The Minister of Defense subsequently annulled the decision that extended Lazarević's term of service until June of this year in 2023, noting that the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro met the conditions for termination of service, i.e. that he had over 40 years of insurance service and was 55 years old. However, Krapović's decision was annulled by the Government Appeals Commission.
Simultaneously with the (first) request for the dismissal of Lazarević, Krapović submitted a proposal for the appointment of Vuksanović, but the Supreme Command did not consider the issue.
Vuksanović is the National Representative of Montenegro at NATO Headquarters in Mons, at the Allied Command Operations (ACO). He graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade, the Command and Staff College in the United States in 2011, and the National Defense College in the United States in 2016. Among other things, he once held the positions of Commander of the Training Center of the Armed Forces of Montenegro in Danilovgrad and Chief of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Department (J-2) in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro. The Chief commands the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro and army units, is responsible to the Minister, and is a professional officer.
The Ministry of Defense told "Vijesti" in the fall, responding to the question of who would, if Lazarević's service were to end tomorrow, perform that job until a new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro is appointed, that the Law on the Armed Forces of Montenegro provides for mechanisms that regulate that situation, and that in accordance with them, the unhindered functioning of the army is envisaged, without jeopardizing the chain of command.
According to the Law on the Armed Forces of Montenegro (Article 103), instead of a professional military person who is temporarily prevented from performing his duty for more than a month, an acting officer (acting) is appointed.
An officer is appointed as acting officer for the formation position of an officer, and a non-commissioned officer is appointed as acting officer for the formation position of a non-commissioned officer. As the law states, an acting officer can also be appointed to a vacant formation position. Which means also to the position of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro, if it were vacant. The acting position can last for a maximum of 18 months.
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