Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Serbia has not exported weapons to either Russia or Ukraine, Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dačić said today in Belgrade.
"I want to strongly deny everything that appeared in some media that Serbia exports weapons to Ukraine. It is important for us to know who is buying from us, who is the end user and that is verifiable, there are papers for that, these are not secret deals and no other permission has ever been given," said Dacic at a reception for defense envoys from the Ministry of Defense of Serbia.
Dacic said that the state "does not grant export licenses and does not export weapons and military equipment to any country that it considers to be controversial and problematic from an international point of view", and added that Serbia "is under exceptional control in this respect " since "the UN and others constantly send investigative missions to control it".
"I am talking about the legal institutions of the government, about the permits issued by several ministries for the export of arms and military equipment. In this regard, no permit has ever been given for the export of arms since the conflict in Ukraine began, nor has there been any export to one side or the other ", said Dacic.
The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, said yesterday that Moscow asked Belgrade for an official position on the information that Serbian weapons were delivered to Ukraine.
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Zakharova said that such information "causes the deepest concern" of Russia and added that it is "too serious an issue", also from the point of view of Russian-Serbian relations.
Allegations appeared in the Russian media and Telegram channels that Serbia secretly delivered 3.500 rockets for the "Grad" missile systems to Ukraine via Turkey and Slovakia.
The Russian portal "mash.ru" announced recently that 3.500 M21 122 mm rockets from the Serbian company Krušik, which were ordered by the Canadian company "JNJ Export Import", were delivered to Ukraine, and that the crates flew from Serbia to Turkey, where they were transited dealt with a Turkish company through which the cargo went to Slovakia and then to Ukraine.
The company Krušik announced this Sunday that it is in no way connected with the sale of rockets to the end user from Ukraine.
Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević denied on Monday that Serbia exports weapons to Ukraine.
"Whether private companies buy on third markets and sell to companies in some other countries, that is not a question for Serbia, that is international trade. For us, it can be interesting intelligence, in terms of information, and not a legal obligation or regulation," he said. is Vučević in the Serbian Parliament, to the question of the opposition MP about that case.
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