Main article: Croatian War of Independence in June 1991, was promoted to Deputy Commander of the Pristina Corps in Kosovo. Shortly after, was given command of the 9th Corps of the JNA, as head of the federal forces in Knin, the capital of the self-proclaimed Serbian Republic of Krajina (in modern Croatia). This organization, formed by Serb majority areas in Croatian territory, was born from the declaration of independence by Croatia.There, taking advantage of the growing ethnic conflict between Serbs and Croats, became the benchmark for the Serb population to publicly defined as “defender of Serb Krajina.” In this region, had the difficult task of restructuring a military body People who had been weakened by the defection of officers or Slovenian Croatian origin who had joined the cause of independence of their republics of origin, despite which, he managed to consolidate their positions in the area. During his stay in Knin, had time to recruit for the JNA to many young ethnic Serbs for their cause. On 4 October 1991, was promoted to Major General. The JNA forces under his command participated in the Croatian war, notably during Operation Coastline 91, in an attempt to separate from the rest of Croatia, Dalmatia, which failed despite the JNA forces were better armed and outnumbered in number to the Croats. This conflict would last until 1995.