Over the years, we have had a lot of stagnation in terms of armaments, that is, in the modernization of the army, and as a result of all this we have come to a situation for certain tasks both internally for the needs of the defense of the country, but also externally for the obligations we have towards the NATO alliance to we may not be able to answer all of them. All of that was a reflection of the situation in the budget, which did not meet the needs for equipping the army and defense in general. In that context, we were far behind the NATO members who have a determination to participate in their military budgets with 2,2 percent of the country's GDP. So, for the first time this year, we came close to that percentage and the expectations are now that in 2024 we will have a budget of 2 percent of GDP, which is in accordance with the strategic review where, among other things, the problems surrounding the modernization of the defense are treated, said the doctor of military political sciences Blagoja Markovski during his appearance on the show "Morning Press".

According to Markovski, so far the Macedonian army has successfully replenished its military resources and equipment primarily through donations of equipment from our strategic partners such as the USA and Turkey.

- The Macedonian army has so far received donations of funds and equipment from the western partners, which I must admit were somewhat outdated technology. The equipment was able to respond to the needs of the army in a certain period of time, but as the years went by, its obsolescence was behind the wishes, positions and skills of our members in peace missions where they performed tasks with excellent results against outdated equipment. But last year, we started with serious thoughts in terms of modernizing the equipment and armament of our army, and as a result, the agreement was signed between the two governments of Macedonia and the United States for the purchase of transport vehicles, which are very important in the direction of the execution of the combat tasks of the army units, regardless of whether it is about the defense of the territory or for some purpose of the units that perform peacekeeping tasks at the UN and the NATO alliance - says Markovski.

President of the Balkan Security Forum, Markovski, in the conversation in the studio, emphasized that for the time being, the Ministry of Defense is well implementing the plans for investing in the army, bearing in mind that it is an expensive matter.

- The dilemma of whether it will be necessary to allocate more funds, that is, to increase the budget for defense in relation to other spheres of life, I would say and explain that defense is the most expensive when you don't have it. I say this from experience because it is always necessary to plan it well. Of course, at the same time, the development programs and other segments in the country must be taken into account. But we, as a member of NATO, got security but at the same time obligations. We cannot just ask for security and refer to Article 5 of the NATO alliance for protection, and at the same time say that we are a poor country and do not want to participate in any peace missions or to build and help global peace. Unlike the past and crisis situations when we asked for help, now I can freely say that Macedonia exports help and security - Markovski pointed out.

The doctor of military political sciences also referred to the announcement of the new package of military aid to Ukraine from the Macedonian side.

- Macedonia is a member of NATO and it develops and builds its security in accordance with the strategic concept of the Alliance as a separate state, but also within the collective defense and security system such as NATO. Our entry into the Alliance required simultaneous restructuring and rethinking of the defense system. In practice, this means that we are not the only ones who have to take care of the security of the country, but it is done within the framework of NATO structures. In that context, there was no need to maintain or modernize the aircraft that ARM recently gave to Ukraine. It turned out that the country will not even need the tank units that we also gave to Ukraine, so I want to emphasize that the military aid to Kiev is completely justified and does not at any moment violate the security capacity of the army - said Markovski.

Analyst Blagoja Markovski in a conversation with Utrinski Pechat also talked about NATO's military exercises in the region, about hybrid threats, illegal weapons, as well as about the latest developments on the front in Ukraine.

See more of the conversation with Markovski in the video below.