The information that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Serbia has exported ammunition to third countries for about 800 million dollars that reached Ukraine, caused reactions both in Belgrade and in Moscow, BTA reported.
Under the title “Serbia turns a blind eye to the fact that its ammunition ends up in Ukraine” newspaper “Financial Times” wrote over the weekend that Belgrade is discreetly increasing the sale of munitions to the West that ultimately support Ukraine's defenses, even though Serbia is one of two European countries that has not joined Western sanctions against Moscow.
The $800 million figure for munitions exports from Serbia since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, is largely accurate. According to him, this is a business opportunity. Vucic emphasized that he is not taking sides in the conflict.
“This is part of our economic recovery and it is important to us. Yes, we are exporting our ammunition,” he said in an interview. “We cannot export to Ukraine or Russia ...but we have many contracts with Americans, Spaniards, Czechs, etc. What they do with it (the ammunition – ed.) is ultimately their business,” comments Vucic. “We have friends in Kiev and in Moscow. They are our Slavic brothers,“ added the Serbian president.
Serbia has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the UN and other international forums, but has not imposed sanctions against Moscow. Belgrade states that the main objective of its foreign policy is the accession to the EU. Last night, however, the EU's high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, warned that maintaining ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin is incompatible with the common European future, noting that Serbia does not yet meet the pre-accession condition to implement European foreign policy decisions.
The Russian edition “Kommersant“ commented that the publication of data on the export of ammunition through third countries reaching Ukraine largely explains why the West, while periodically expressing outrage at Serbia's reluctance to follow EU policy in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, does not resort to any punitive measures against Belgrade and continues to call Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic a close partner.
Information that Serbia could be sending weapons to Ukraine began to appear as early as March-April 2023. Thus, on April 12 of the same year, Reuters, referring to leaked confidential documents of the Pentagon, wrote that allegedly that the Serbian leadership has committed to sending arms to Ukraine or has already done so.
In response, then-Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic, now Prime Minister, recalled that Belgrade had refuted this lie more than 10 times and again rejected the claims. However, he added that the country sells weapons to third countries that are far from the Ukrainian conflict. On April 14, 2023, President Aleksandar Vucic stated that Serbia will never send a single bullet into Ukraine or Russia as it works to strengthen its own military.
Later, on June 1 of the same year, the Russian ambassador in Belgrade, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, in an interview with Izvestia, said that the information in the media that Belgrade would supply arms to Ukraine was connected with attempts to cause discord in relations between Moscow and Belgrade. At the same time, the Russian diplomat admitted that Serbia has a sufficiently developed defense industry and was actively selling its weapons even before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday at a briefing that Moscow will study data on supplies of Serbian ammunition to Ukraine, the Russian edition "Izvestia" informed. “We have seen and heard these statements of Mr. Vucic. We will consider this topic in contacts with our Serbian friends”, Peskov said, answering a question about Russia's response to such actions by the Serbian side.
Today, Yuri Ushakov, the foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to a question on the subject, indicating that the Russian head of state does not yet plan contacts with Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic. Commenting on Peskov's statement last night, Vucic said that the Kremlin spokesman is a smart person “whom you cannot lie with such games”, informed the Serbian newsroom of TV En1.
The Serbian president said that the weapons being exported from Serbia are for permitted "end users". Regarding the material of the “Financial Times”, he stated that these were "tricks used by various foreign services, certain media and politicians" and that there were attempts by foreign agents through Serbian arms factory workers to plant GPS devices in shipments of grenades and rockets.
According to the military analyst Alexander Radic, quoted by En1 TV, it is a public secret that Serbian weapons and military equipment reach the battlefields in Ukraine. "You are aware that (weapons - ed.) are going into the hands of the Ukrainian army and this is a political decision, not a business decision. This is a purely political decision that radically undermines Serbia's status as a neutral country, Radić commented.