TSAMTO, August 29. According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Belgrade still does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state.
Serbian officials consider the modernization of the Armed Forces not only in the context of ensuring the security of Serbia itself, but also of the Serbs living in the region, especially the Serbian minorities in Kosovo and Montenegro. The strengthening of the Armed Forces is accompanied by diplomatic efforts aimed at strengthening relations with the United States, Russia, China, the EU and NATO, as well as balancing between these countries and organizations.
The main programs for the acquisition of weapons and military equipment for the Armed Forces of Serbia
According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, "the security situation is becoming more complicated all over the world, growing tensions in eastern Europe, economic and energy conflicts between the Western world and China, the Western world and the Russian Federation, as well as the clash of interests of world powers and regional forces in our region obliges us to further strengthen the Serbian army."
"At least a year we will have to allocate more than 500 million euros over and above what we have allocated so far (in 2022, about 1.12 billion euros were allocated for defense spending. euro). The needs and requests of the army are more than 700 million euros more than budget allocations in 2021 or 2020. In fact, this is another military budget," Vucic said.
In particular, according to him, "a significant number of helicopters are planned to be delivered in 2023, we expect only 30 vehicles. Of these, 11 will be H-145 (Airbus company), four Mi-35 and three new Russian-made Mi-17 plus 11 Mi-35s that were in service, which we buy from one EU member state," Vucic said, stressing that this will make Serbia the strongest in this type of equipment in the world. region.
With proper funding of promising procurement programs prepared by the Ministry of Defense, a huge increase will be received in 2024-2025," the Serbian leader said.
"Fighters and bombers of the 4+ generation are currently in service with the Serbian Armed Forces, we are thinking about additional purchases of fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft. When I say "we think", it means that we are close to making final decisions, including regarding additional purchases of air defense systems," Vucic said.
Serbia is the largest importer of Russian weapons and military equipment in Europe. Over the past few years, Russia has transferred 30 upgraded T-72MS tanks, 30 BRDM-2 armored vehicles, seven Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters, and six MiG-29 fighters to Serbia. Belgrade also acquired a battery of ZRPK "Pantsir-S1" and ATGM "Kornet".
To the situation around Kosovo
The permanent tension of the situation around Kosovo is indicated by the fact that the Serbian authorities refused to purchase Bayraktar UAVs from Turkey after Ankara supplied these drones to the Kosovo Security Forces (SBK) in Pristina, Serbian President Alexander Vucic said on TV Pink on June 26, 2023.
According to the agency, self-proclaimed Kosovo, in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1244, does not have its own army. The authorities in Pristina, with material support from NATO, are modernizing and training lightly armed SBCs in order to transform them into full-fledged armed forces, which causes protests from the Serbian authorities. The law on the SBK, approved in December 2018, provides for a personnel of 5 thousand fighters.
"The Turks seriously armed the SBK, which cannot exist according to international law... The Turks gave them anti–tank missiles, howitzers, Bayraktars," the Serbian president said.
"We refused to buy Bayraktars because they gave them to Pristina. We will not cooperate with them in this way. We recently received Chinese CH-90 UAVs, and we will continue to purchase them. In five months we will receive 1,000 kamikaze drones that we ordered in the Middle East," Vucic said.
Serbia planned to purchase Turkish Bayraktar UAVs in the amount of several hundred million euros with delivery as early as 2023. This was stated on September 7, 2022 in Belgrade by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
For the first time, Alexander Vucic officially announced the possibility of purchasing Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles on October 5, 2020.
Speaking to media representatives in Belgrade, Alexander Vucic highly appreciated the quality of Bayraktar UAVs, noting that Serbia is interested in purchasing such unmanned vehicles and will certainly purchase them in the future.
Earlier, on July 4, 2020, the Serbian Armed Forces adopted 6 new Chinese-made CH-92A reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicles.
It is noteworthy that Serbia in mid-July 2023 suspended all arms exports for 30 days to meet the needs of the Serbian army and increase the country's combat readiness amid tensions around Kosovo, the Associated Press reported, citing a statement by Defense Minister Milos Vucevic.
"Serbia has suspended all arms exports for 30 days… The ban on exports is necessary to meet the needs of the Serbian army and increase combat readiness in the context of the escalating crisis in the Balkan region," the report says.
"This does not mean that Serbia is going to fight or calls for war, but we are considering all the risks and security challenges," the agency quotes M.Vucevic.
It is noted that the decision will be reviewed after 30 days.
The agency also points out that the decision to suspend arms exports was made after the United States imposed sanctions against the head of Serbian intelligence, former Interior Minister Alexander Vulin.
At the time of this decision, protests by local Serbs had been going on in the north of Kosovo and Metohija for more than a month, demanding that Pristina withdraw the special forces of the Kosovo Albanian police from the four northern municipalities inhabited by Serbs, release about ten compatriots detained in a month and recall the Albanian "mayors".
Serbia's position on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine
It is worth mentioning the remarkable statement of the President of the country Alexander Vucic on August 8, 2023.
The Serbian President then said that Ukraine is a friendly state for Serbia, noting that Vladimir Zelensky does not recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo.
"Ukraine is a friendly state to us, we have never had conflicts and problems with Ukraine and I hope there won't be," Vucic said.
Thus, the Serbian leadership continues to balance (sit on two chairs): Supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, Belgrade refuses to impose sanctions against Russia.
Serbia's ambivalent position on Ukraine has led to serious disagreements with Russia. As stated on March 2, 2023, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova to the RBC TV channel, Russia called on Serbia to clarify the situation with possible arms supplies to Ukraine.
"We have already officially requested Belgrade to clarify this position, so now, again, this should be done not through the media, not through telegram channels, not through leaks, but through the officially stated position of the Serbian side, the facts should be revealed. Then appropriate conclusions will be drawn, since this is an extremely important topic for bilateral relations," the diplomat noted.
Earlier in the day, Zakharova stressed that Moscow is monitoring information about the alleged supply of Serbian ammunition to Kiev, but facts are needed.
Zakharova clarified that the incoming information causes Russia deep concern, this is too serious an issue, including from the point of view of Russian-Serbian relations.
Earlier, at the end of February 2023, the Serbian defense company "Krushik" denied media reports about the supply of jet ammunition to Ukraine and reproached the authors of the materials for damaging the reputation of Belgrade.
Located in the city of Valevo, the production is one of the largest in Serbia and is state–owned. Some publications claimed that a company from Canada buys locally produced missiles in the country, then sends them to the Armed Forces of Ukraine through Turkey and Slovakia for shelling Donbass, alleged copies of documents on the purchase and transportation of ammunition and even video recordings were attached to the publications.
Serbia adheres to the position of military neutrality and does not sell weapons to Ukraine, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Republic Ivica Dacic said on April 13, 2023, his words are quoted on the website of the diplomatic department.
"I. Dacic rejected reports about the alleged export of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, which were published by Reuters, and distributed by some local media," the release says.
Earlier, on April 12, the Reuters news agency, citing secret Pentagon documents leaked online, reported that the Serbian authorities had allegedly already transferred or were ready to transfer weapons to Ukraine. The Minister of Defense of the Republic Milos Vucevic, in turn, called the new reports on the supply of military aid to the Armed Forces false, like the previous ones.
According to the Minister, Belgrade observes the refusal to supply arms to any country if "an armed conflict may arise or continue there," and there is also a threat to peace and security.
"Serbia adheres to the policy of military neutrality and the conclusions of the National Security Council of February 2022," he said.Dacic, stressing that when exporting weapons from the republic, there is a clause in the end-user certificate prohibiting their further transfer to third countries without the permission of Belgrade.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on March 10 that the country's authorities and companies do not provide military assistance to Ukraine or Russia, but at the same time pointed out that manufactured ammunition often ends up in the conflict zone, despite the bans.
He added that Belgrade will continue to produce weapons and sell them to "authorized consumers."
"In particular, we are talking about a batch of ammunition that ended up in Turkey, we set a limit for the end user… But no matter what ammunition you supply anywhere, they can still end up in conflict zones, for example in Syria, Mali or in some other country. We comply with all international laws, we have not violated any norm, observing the requirement for an end–user certificate when delivering military equipment," the Serbian president said on TV Happy.
In other words, Belgrade has absolved itself of responsibility for the possible supply of Serbian-made ammunition to Ukraine by third countries in violation of the bed user certificate and does not plan to limit the supply of weapons to countries suspected of reselling Serbian weapons to the Armed Forces.
Serbia's defense spending
Serbia to increase defense spending to three percent of GDP
Serbia, against the background of a global arms race, will increase defense spending from 2% to 3% of GDP, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on February 20, 2023.
"We currently have military spending at 2% of GDP, but we will raise it to 3%. Whoever does not have a serious army will be attacked. Therefore, Serbia is forced to increase its defensive capabilities," Vucic said.
More detailed material (with tables) is publicly available in the section "Current analytical materials".
