Deputy Defence Minister Majer brings a bit of homeland to SVK military personnel deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cyprus

As part of the pre-Christmas tradition of visiting military personnel on operations abroad, Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer headed off to meet with our soldiers deployed with EUFOR Op Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina and with UNFICYP in Cyprus. As they will not have that opportunity to be at home for Christmas due to being on duty, he has brought them Christmas trees, gifts and ingredients for the traditional Slovak Christmas sauerkraut soup.

In his personal message of gratitude for our soldiers' service in support of peace and security, Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer said: “My visit here is to say Thank You to the men and women of the Slovak Armed Forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Cyprus and all servicemen and women deployed on crisis management missions and operations abroad. They all deserve our huge thanks for the superb work they have been doing abroad and for representing Slovakia so well.”

Keen to learn more about their deployment, accomplishment of tasks, and needs, Mr Majer spoke with soldiers on the ground and updated them on the MOD's steps in improving Service conditions in Slovakia, including through defence infrastructure projects and modernisation programmes.

In addition to meeting with members of the SVK Armed Forces, Mr Majer also spoke with Commander EUFOR Op Althea Maj Gen Alexander Platzer, Commander NATO HQ Sarajevo Brig Gen Pamela McGaha, UNFICYP Senior Advisor Aderemi Adekoya, and UNFICYP Chief of Staff Col John Hanson, to discuss the security developments in their area of operations, the functioning of the Mission, and operations.

241 SVK personnel, of whom 26 are servicewomen, are currently serving with UNFICYP in Cyprus. The latest 40th rotation of SVK troops took place in September 2021. The main operational task of SLOVCON UNFICYP is to secure the integrity of the buffer zone and to keep the military balance. SLOVCON has covered operational tasks in the Mission's Sector 4 since Slovakia became the only Troop Contributing Country in 2018.

46 SVK personnel are currently serving with EUFOR Op Althea and 160 have been on-standby as the out-of-country Immediate Reserve Force. One SVK officer is posted to NATO HQ Sarajevo. Members of the SVK Armed Forces have been deployed in support of EUFOR Op Althea since its inception. They are responsible for three Liaison and Observation Teams (LOT) in Novo Sarajevo, Foča and Višegrad. Slovakia is the Lead Nation (LN) in the LOT Coordination Centre (LCC), tasked with coordinating operations, monitoring developments, and assessing the situation across the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina.