On the day when the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that Serbia no longer exports any ammunition, the press service of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service issued a statement saying that Ukraine is very grateful to Serbian manufacturers of weapons and ammunition and that the export of military products from Serbia is increasing despite Moscow’s growing pressure on Belgrade.
“The Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation reports that, according to information received by the SVR of Russia, the Ukrainian army is very grateful to Serbian manufacturers of weapons and ammunition for their contribution to maintaining the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the SVR statement published on the website of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation states.
It adds that Kyiv notes that Serbian enterprises of the military-industrial complex, despite Moscow’s growing pressure on Belgrade, are increasing the export of military products to the conflict zone between the “collective West” and Russia.
The Russians state that Serbian weapons go to Ukraine “thanks to the use of indirect supply schemes,” i.e., through intermediaries.
“Ammunition produced in Serbian defense enterprises, primarily for heavy long-range systems, is sent in the interest of Ukraine to NATO countries in the form of complete sets of parts for assembly. This allows Kyiv to formally receive military products that are no longer Serbian, but are assembled in arms factories in Western countries. The assembly and loading of ammunition is carried out primarily in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. At the same time, manufacturers in Serbia are well aware of the actual consumers of their products and the fact that their rockets and shells will kill Russian soldiers and residents of Russian settlements,” the SVR notes.
They add that the obtained data show that the “Krušik” factory from Valjevo recently sold several large series of assembly kits for 122 mm rockets for the “Grad” air-rocket system to the Czech company “Poličske strojerni.”
The Loznica defense enterprise “Eling” sent kits for the production of the same rockets, as well as 120 mm mines, to the Bulgarian company “EMKO,” the Russian service claims.
The statement concludes that it is regrettable that now “traditions of friendship and mutual assistance are being crossed out by the thirst for profit and cowardly multi-vectorism.”
This is the second time Russia has warned Serbia about exporting ammunition to Ukraine. The previous time this also happened through an SVR statement in late May. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić reacted quickly, claiming that not everything in that report was accurate, and that Serbia would reconsider the export of ammunition.
This was followed by a response from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who noted that Russia believes Serbia is fully aware of the risks due to supplying Ukraine with ammunition.
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Source: N1, Photo: BETAPHOTO / AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic