Vladimir Putin's Russian propaganda machine reacted extremely sharply to the information that a lot of Serbian ammunition ends up in the Ukrainian army.
Television presenter Sergej Mardan said that Serbia behaves like a whore, and one cannot speak of a “brotherly country” at all. “Russia has no brothers in the world, Serbia behaves like the last whore,” said the Russian propagandist.
🇷🇺🇷🇸 Anti-Serb sentiment growing in Russia.
Russian state TV host called Serbia the "worst whore" and declared Serbia enemies, not brothers, following revelations that Serbia exported about €800 million worth of shells to Ukraine since 2022.pic.twitter.com/tIoFAGWtpX< /a>— kos_data (@kos_data) June 25, 2024
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, BTA reported. “It 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.
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 goal of its foreign policy is 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.