However Serbia joining NATO would split the nation for decades and would have grave long-term consequences as the overwhelming majority of Serbs oppose the idea, the Serbian leader explained as he gave a lecture to students of Belgrade University’s Faculty of Security Studies.
Aleksandar Vucic admitted that such a decision would go against the will of 75 percent of the population and would only "bring a deep division and discord" to Serbia, which would have long-term consequences.
He went on to say that Serbia should maintain its military neutrality instead of seeking to join any military bloc.
Vucic also said that Serbia should set the goal of joining the EU while maintaining the best possible relations with Russia and China.
Mitar Kovac, retired Major-General, professor at the Serbian Military Academy and Director of the Eurasian Security Forum commented to Sputnik Serbia on the announcements of the Serbian Prime Minister, saying that there is a rational explanation why up to 80 percent of Serbs oppose the integration into the military block.
"It is NATO which has caused Serbia's major problems which the country is trying to cope with until now. The Serbian people (250,000) have been banished from Croatia with NATO's blessing and with its direct assistance, namely with that of Germany and the US," he told Sputnik.
NATO continues its active support of the quasi-state Kosovo, Mitar Kovac said, and is now setting up the army of the self-proclaimed state.
That is why, he said, Serbia's accession to the block would not solve the problem but conversely would create many more new problems both in Serbia and in all the territories where the Serbs reside.
The retired Major-General explained the major technique NATO had used not only in the Balkan states but in many other European countries: it first created a problem and then imposed its services to solve it.
"In the countries which do not support the Alliance and which try to stand against it, NATO first launches the scenario of disintegration and then imposes its set of values," he told Sputnik.