According to information obtained by Russia’s SVR, the Ukrainian military “is very grateful to Serbian manufacturers of weapons and ammunition for their contribution to maintaining the combat readiness of the Ukrainian armed forces,” said a press release posted on the SVR website.
Russia’s SVR: Serbian military exports rising despite increasing Moscow pressure
On the same day Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia had halted all ammunition exports, the press office of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) issued a press release saying that Ukraine is very grateful to Serbian manufacturers of weapons and ammunition and that exports of military products from Serbia are on the rise despite Moscow’s increasing pressure on Belgrade.
The release went on to say that Kyiv has noted that, despite increasing pressure on Belgrade from Moscow, Serbian military-industrial complex enterprises are stepping up the export of military products to the zone of confrontation between the “collective West” and Russia.
The Russians said that Serbian-made weapons are reaching Ukraine through “indirect supply schemes,” that is, via intermediaries.
“Ammunition produced at Serbian defense enterprises, mainly for heavy long-range systems, is sent in the interests of Ukraine to NATO countries in the form of complete sets of parts for assembly. This allows Kyiv to formally receive at a later time not Serbian military products, but those assembled at the weapons factories in Western countries. Ammunition is assembled and equipped primarily in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. At the same time, manufacturers in Serbia are well aware of the real consumers of their products and the fact that their missiles and shells will kill Russian military personnel and residents of Russian settlements,” said the SVR.
The SVR said the Krusik plant in the Serbian city of Valjevo recently sold several large batches of kits for assembling 122-mm Grad MLRS missiles to a Czech company. Loznica defense company Eling sent kits for the production of the same missiles, as well as 120-mm mines, to the Bulgarian company EMKO, claims the Russian Service.
The press release concluded by saying it is regrettable that the “traditions of friendship and mutual support are now being erased by a thirst for profit and cowardly multivectorism.”
This is the second time Russia has called out Serbia over ammunition exports to Ukraine. The first warning came in late May, also via an SVR statement. President Vucic was quick to respond, dismissing parts of the report as inaccurate and promising a review of Serbia’s ammunition exports.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova soon followed up, stressing that Moscow believes Serbia is well aware of the risks tied to supplying Ukraine with ammunition