WASHINGTON/BELGRADE, April 12 (Portal) – Serbia, the only country in Europe that has refused to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, has agreed to supply arms to Kiev, or has already sent them, according to one secret Pentagon document.
The document, a summary of European governments’ responses to Ukraine’s requests for military training and “deadly aid” or weapons, was among dozens of classified documents leaked online in recent weeks in what may be the most serious leak of US military mysteries could be for years.
The document, titled “Europe|Response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict,” charts the “evaluated positions” of 38 European governments in response to Ukraine’s requests for military assistance.
The map showed that Serbia declined to train Ukrainian forces but had pledged to send deadly aid or had already delivered it. Serbia also has the political will and military capability to supply arms to Ukraine in the future.
The document is marked “Secret” and “NOFORN,” which prohibits its disclosure to foreign intelligence agencies and the military. It is dated March 2nd and bears the seal of the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Portal could not independently verify the authenticity of the document.
The office of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the Ukrainian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pentagon also did not immediately respond to Portal questions about the document’s reference to Serbia, and previously declined to comment on any of the leaked documents.
Vucic’s government has pledged neutrality in the Ukraine war, despite the country’s deep historical, economic and cultural ties with Russia.
“If this document is correct, it either shows Vucic’s duplicity towards Russia or he is under enormous pressure from Washington to supply arms to Ukraine,” said Janusz Bugajski, Eastern Europe expert at the Jamestown Foundation, a foreign policy institute.
The Justice Department is investigating the leak while the Pentagon assesses the damage done to US national security.
The Pentagon chart divided responses to Ukraine’s requests for assistance into four categories: countries that had committed to providing training and lethal assistance; countries that had already provided training, lethal aid, or both; Countries with the military capabilities and political will “to provide lethal aid in the future.”
Austria and Malta were the only two countries to score “no” in all four categories.
The chart’s disclosure comes just over a month after documents published in a pro-Russian channel on global messaging app Telegram allegedly tracked the delivery of 122mm Grad surface-to-surface missiles from a Serbian weapons manufacturer Kiev in November showed. The documents included a shipping directory and an end-user certificate from the Ukrainian government.
Moscow said in March it had asked Belgrade for an official explanation of the alleged deliveries, state news agency TASS quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
Weapons manufacturer Krusik Corp. from Valjevo denied supplying missiles or other weapons to Ukraine. Vucic called the allegations “a notorious lie”.
“We have not exported any arms or ammunition to Russia or Ukraine,” he said on a March 5 visit to Qatar.
Portal could not independently confirm the authenticity of the broadcast documentation published on Telegram.
Since the war began in February last year, Vucic has been trying to balance close ties with Moscow with his goal of joining the European Union.
But Serbia is the only refusal among 44 European countries to impose sanctions on Russia.
Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Edited by Don Durfee and Suzanne Goldenberg
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Aleksandar Wasović