Vučić believes in creating a military alliance between Serbia and Hungary

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said he believes that the new agreement between Belgrade and Budapest in the field of defense, signed on April 1, will continue in the further rapprochement towards the creation of a military alliance between Serbia and Hungary.

"The Hungarian side is asking about this, the Hungarian and Serbian parliaments are asking about it. Our relations are more than good and Prime Minister Viktor Orban and I have expressed our desire to continue accelerating and further approximating our positions in the defense sphere," Vučić said after the signing.

Vučić did not provide further details about the idea of ​​a Serbian-Hungarian military alliance. The Hungarian and Serbian sides did not discuss it, and after the signing of the agreement, journalists were not allowed to ask questions.

In mid-March, Belgrade reacted sharply to a declaration signed in Tirana by Albania, Croatia and Kosovo, which the participants described as a document strengthening cooperation in responding to security challenges that could threaten regional stability. On the other hand, Serbia characterized it as a provocation and a threat to stability.

Helicopter exercises and training

Krištof Szalai-Borovnicki and Bratislav Gašić, the defense ministers of Hungary and Serbia, signed a document in Belgrade on Tuesday that concretizes the agreement on strategic cooperation between Hungary and Serbia in the field of defense from 2023.

It was announced that in 2025, Budapest and Belgrade agreed on 79 defense activities, including joint training, helicopter and other exercises, cooperation in the sectors of defense industries, cybersecurity, peacekeeping operations, military education, and medicine.

"Hungary is always on the side of preserving peace and Serbia is always its ally in this," said Hungarian Defense Minister Kristof Szalai-Borovnicki.

Vučić said on this occasion that Belgrade, after purchasing BTR-80A armored personnel carriers from Budapest last year, is interested in purchasing other systems left over in Hungary from the Soviet period, as well as the new Links KF-51 combat vehicles that Hungary produces in cooperation with the German Rheinmetall.

He added that Hungary is buying 7,62 caliber ammunition from Serbia and is interested in Serbian-made 8x8 combat vehicles.

"We expect a lot of joint work in the military field. Everything we do means greater security for the citizens of both countries," Vučić said.

He stated that he expects to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban soon.

It was announced that trade between Hungary and Serbia exceeded three billion euros and that the country is Serbia's fifth economic partner.

Two decades of neutrality

Serbia has been a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program since December 2006. At the end of 2007, it declared military neutrality through a parliamentary resolution on the protection of sovereignty, territorial integrity and constitutional order.

In the last ten years, it has held dozens of military exercises with NATO countries, including the United States, as well as with the Russian Federation and Belarus.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Serbia has not participated in military exercises with either the East or the West.

It made an exception in 2023, when it exercised for 15 days on its territory with the US and other NATO countries in maneuvers called "Platinum Wolf" held at the "Jug" military base.