With an unprecedented US intelligence leak—reportedly attributed to on-line gamers—continuing to do damage on a wide variety of fronts, Serbia again denied that it is or has been selling weapons to Ukraine, as was detailed in an unconfirmed and allegedly highly classified document.
On Wednesday, March 12, Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević, called the accusation “a lie,” adding that he believed unknown persons were out to “destabilize Serbia” and pull it into the conflict in Ukraine, as cited by Serbian media, as well as the Russian publication Sputnik.
The minister said that Serbia has no intention of selling weapons to Ukraine, although there is the possibility that weapons produced in Serbia could eventually be found in Ukraine, a Serbia sells to parties not involved in the war.
Speculation has abounded since an exclusive Reuters report revealed unconfirmed classified documents that indicated such sales—as well as still further damaging information, such as the status of Ukrainian anti-aircraft arms and that allegedly a number of countries, including the UK, have special forces operators on the ground in Ukraine.
That said, it would not appear that Serbian relations with the US are suffering as on the same day the US Embassy in Serbia stated, as reported by Radio Free Europe, that, according to its findings, Serbia was not selling weapons to Ukraine.
Likewise, the accusations were denied by the Serbian Ministry of Defense.
Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was reported to be in meetings with US officials, including US Ambassador Christopher Hill, over harassment, maltreatment and attacks suffered by ethnic Serbs in Kosovo at the hands of Kosovo police. While Vucic appeared to focus also on the lack of an adaptation of a Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) in Kosovo, which should have been implemented based on agreements going back to 2014, there was no specific comment noted with regard to the US intelligence leak or Serb weapons going to Ukraine.
Chatham House, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
