Izdanje Srbija
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NATO center for the Balkans, in place of the ruined building of the General Headquarters in Belgrade?
Thursday, 01.01.1970.
11:40
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The quondam building of the General Headquarters of the Yugoslav army in the center of Belgrade will soon not be the crying shame of the capital city. The buildings, erected in 1963 are the work of the famous architect Nikola Dobrovic, and during the NATO bombing of 1999, were severely damaged.
The Ministry of Defense of Serbia and Montenegro demanded from the Government of Serbia to allow the sale of one of the two ruined buildings. The Israelis, Canadians, Austrians... are interested in those buildings. The army wants to alienate the buildings which are on the right hand side when going from the Railway station towards Slavija in such a way as to rent the building in Bircaninova 5 street, where the Ministry of Defense is currently located, and the rest would undergo the tender procedure and be sold. That is why they handed in their demand to the Government of Serbia during the middle of June for the edifice in Bircaninova street, too.
The Assembly of the City of Belgrade was interested in the building where there is the military printing office in Resavska street. The left side would not be sold and the Ministry of Defense would be moved to the pre-war General Headquarters.
By the middle of June an information "leaked" from "the well informed diplomatic circles" that the USA reached an agreement with the Government of Serbia amounting to $15 million on buying the old Marshalate, near the White Court (Beli dvor) in Dedinje, severely damaged during the bombing, where the USA embassy would be moved. Soon afterwards, the rumour had it that the Americans were interested in the buildings of the General Headquarters where, allegedly, the command center of the NATO forces for the Balkans would be located. It is hard to tell how much truth lies in that, but the Minister of Defense Prvoslav Davinic announced recently the sighning of an agreement with the USA on stationing the American forces in S&M, and that the word did not go about bases.
