Report on the Serbian Ministry of the Interior and State Security Service
Presentation by Julian Moir, 1 April 1999

Organisation chart of Serb command relationships (68 Kb)

A few days ago I briefed you on the upper echelon of command structure in Serbia. I am now going to brief you in more detail on the Interior Ministry and the State Security Service, explaining the acronyms of the various organisations and where they fit in, in the scheme of things.

We met Serbian Interior Minister Stojilkovic last time round. He controls the Interior Ministry and its offshoot the Department for State Security. This department is controlled by Gen Radomir Markovic, who we have met as well. His organisation is split in two.

On the left is the operations's side, headed by Franki Simatovic. He has a long history of organising, arming and directing Serbian paramilitaries in the Bosnian war and now in Kosovo. He operates as the link man between them, and the more formal state structure. He is a shadowy individual and we have no picture of him.

As well as looking after the paramilitaries, he runs the highly secretive and very specialised group called the JSO. This is a force between 4-500 strong, recruited almost exclusively from the army special forces. They wear red berets and operate in groups of between 15-25. They travel about in modern armoured 44s. By any standard this group is well trained, well motivated and very dangerous. They also act as Milosevic's Prętorian guard.

Moving right we have the more conventional arm of the RDB. This is headed up by Maj Gen Curcic. Again we do not have a picture of him. In Kosovo, there are three centres of the state security service, in Pristina, in Prizren and in Gniljane. They operate in plain clothes and are responsible for the more political "black or wet operations" in the province.

Moving now to the interior ministry or the MUP. The MUP are an armed gendarmerie, and in Kosovo, they are commanded by Maj Gen Lukic. Before Mar 98, we believed that there were in the region of 5,000 police in Kosovo. The balance was made up from other sectors of the interior ministry such as firemen and like any police force they were liberally spread around the country. The police, let’s call them MUP, have a heavily armed specialised group within them called the PJP or Posebrie Jedinice Policije. In effect they are the police assault troops and are armed and equipped in the same way as a light infantry battalion, with mortars and heavy machine guns. They have armoured personnel carriers as well.

The organisation is approximately 5,000 strong, split into 6 detachments in Serbia. Each detachment is approximately 700 men, equating to the size of an infantry battalion. In addition there are 8,000 reservists. All regular and reserve detachments have done operational tours in Kosovo. This organisation is the backbone of Serbia’s control in the province and has been responsible for the majority of the atrocities. It is commanded by Lt Col Gen Stevanovic - of whom I regret we have no photograph.

The final organisation, the SAJ, is the equivalent of the counter terrorist teams who are part of any police force. The SAJ is approximately 400 strong and is divided amongst each PJP detachment. There is the equivalent of an under strength company in every location. They recruit only the fittest and the most loyal. Like the JSO they undergo psychometric testing. The average age of the recruit is between 19 and 24 and there are very few older than 35.