Rank in the Portfolio

Political circles spent June and most of July speculating who Slobodan Milosevic would choose to succeed him as Serbian president. The speculation even included Yugoslav Army (VJ) chief of staff General Momcilo Perisic. Sources who called themselves well-informed said the general would retire or resign and appear on TV as the candidate of the ruling leftist coalition. No one said whether he would join the SPS or JUL. Those sources claimed that Milosevic had several reasons for that decision: the shortage of an adequate figure among his own people, Perisic’s failure to fit in with the political establishment and the popularity of the military among Serbs.

It’s clear that those rumors were just another effort to confuse the public and opposition but the whole thing didn’t end there. The rumor that followed said that Lilic as "the former chairman of the supreme defense council enjoys the strong support of the VJ".

Over the past seven years, Serbia’s political life was never without the army and generals. Specifically, the regime always just had to exploit them. Prior to every election, influential generals made statements of public support to the authorities. General Veljko Kadijevic was the first in a 1990 interview, in 1992 a group of generals accused Prime Minister and federal defense minister Milan Panic of intent to commit treason, in 1993 General Bozidar Stevanovic spoke out against the opposition and even Perisic joined the voices of support for Milosevic as FRY president.

The generals can’t be said to have been independent players in politics here. The exemption that confirms the rule is the forming of the League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia (SKPJ) in late 1990. Its founders included then federal defense minister Kadijevic, two retired defense minister (Generals Nikola Ljubicic and Branko Mamula), the active chief of staff (Blagoje Adzic) and two retired chiefs of staff (Stevan Mirkovic and Petar Gracanin). The party also included Kadijevic’s deputy Admiral Stane Brovet, Admiral Bozidar Grubisic (then navy commander), retired General Dusan Pekic and others. In short, they decided to transfer the league of communists organization in the army into their new party. The army got its own political party which was not insignificant at the time. The promotion of the party in Belgrade’s Sava Center showed that the whole thing would come to nothing when Mira Markovic appeared with her close associates Zoran Cicak and Zoran Todorovic. Soon the federal defense ministry banned all political activities for military personnel.

At the time, there were rumors that the army was preparing to take over in the former Yugoslavia. In a statement to VREME, General Nikola Cubra confirmed that a military coup had been under consideration. According to other sources, it was clear that the Serbian regime, with the backing of the army chiefs, limited that possibility to the former Krajina because Milosevic did not trust the generals to stop once he gave them carte blanche. The 1991 war in Croatia provided an opportunity to promote retired colonels and generals through the SKPJ. Those men lived through a second youth, supplying guns, forming military units in their native villages and raising rebellions. Generals Radojica Nenezic and Dusan Pekic are certainly the best known. Their arrangements were in place for as long as the regime thought they were useful. When the need for them was gone they disappeared from public.

Another form of engagement for military personnel was the Serbian defense ministry. The key ministers were Generals Tomislav Simovic and Marko Negovanovic after him. Simovic’s job was the forming of an alternative (Serbian) army if the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) became disobedient. Negovanovic’s job was to prevent disobedience at any cost. When that need was gone the ministry was abolished.

Following the purge of some 40 generals in May 1992, the generals who were left went looking for political support during the infighting for posts and privileges. When the Radicals were on good terms with the Socialists, Generals Ljubomir Domazetovic (head of the personnel and mobilization department), Nedeljko Boskovic (head of the counterintelligence service) and Bozidar Stevanovic (commander of the airforce and air defenses) when after the support of the Radicals. They were retired when the two parties were no longer on good terms.

All the generals rushed to pay respect to Milosevic. When he decided to oust Dobrica Cosic as FRY president, the excuse used was Cosic’s talks with army chiefs in a bunker in Dobanovci when he allegedly asked for their support. Allegedly, as soon as Cosic left, they raced for the Serbian presidency building, with then chief of staff General Zivota Panic being the first to bring in the minutes of the meeting. Panic was retired quickly both because of the insisting of Seselj’s Radicals and preparations to change political courses. In any case, Panic’s departure left the army deaf, dumb, blind and stupid in politics. That’s what the regime wants and that’s what suits the army best.

Whenever street protests are staged in Serbia, there is speculation about what the generals are thinking. Vuk Draskovic usually calls the army to support the people. The reactions to last winter’s meeting between a student delegation and General Perisic (who promised no VJ tanks would be deployed on the streets of Belgrade) were spectacular. His statement was welcomed by the State Department among others. A few months later, it turned out that this was a pure misunderstanding in a complex situation. Perisic was paid back when the FRY failed to react to a Croatian court’s in absentia sentencing of the general to 20 years in prison.

None of the retired generals or high-ranking officers has joined an opposition party. The generals who were left alone are enjoying their retirement in silence. Others like Colonel Ljubodrag Simonovic discovered the existence of non-governmental organization for human rights or the independent media.

Still others are launching initiatives which carry no obligation for anyone, taking care not to make them seem like anti-regime activities. General Radovan Radinovic made a name for himself with his strategic analyses in favor of the Serbs in the wars. New Democracy has rallied several retired generals who explained why the FRY should become a member of NATO. Federal Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic has nothing against that initiative because he knows nothing will happen along those lines for a long time. General Petar Gracanin, federal police minister in 1990-91, is attending meetings of the Young Socialists and Pekic is heading one of the numerous associations for the return of Croatian Serbs to their homes.

There are two generals who did go into politics independently. The first is Stevan Mirkovic who has remained faithful to his communist ideals and abandoned the regime in 1992 because of its nationalism and ties with Seselj to form his own communist party. The other is Vuk Obradovic, once the youngest JNA general, defense ministry spokesman, Kadijevic’s cabinet chief and head of the ethics board, now leader of the newly formed Socialdemocracy party and candidate for Serbian president. Obradovic is seen by some as the Serbian version of Russia’s General Aleksandar Lebed.