Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Defense Minister Miloš Vučević, Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić and arms manufacturer Krušik denied reports that Serbia sold weapons to Ukraine through Turkey and Slovakia. Vučić called the reports an “egregious lie”.
Reports stated that 122 mm Krušik rockets were launched from Serbia to Turkey, Slovakia and then Ukraine.
“It is an egregious lie that Serbia has sold a single bullet, weapon or tool to Ukraine or Russia. Serbia produces and sells ammunition. We have many factories in defense industry. When you produce ammunition, it always ends up in a war zone,” Vučić said live from Doha, where Serbia is participating in the fifth UN conference on least developed countries.
“In Serbia there are so-called approved buyers and we only export to these countries. People claim that we export through Turkey, but knowing that there was a possibility that some of the goods would be sent to any of the warring factions, we made it impossible to export the ammunition that we sent to Turkey,” said Vučić.
Those who spread these stories are “liars and informers”, he added.
“Serbia wants to earn more in this branch of industry, 50,000 people work in this branch. We will make more weapons and we are absolutely clean,” Vučić said in Doha.
Dačić also said that Serbia had not exported weapons to Ukraine, Russia “or any other country that could be contested from an international point of view” or issued a license for the export of weapons.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier that Russia was “deeply concerned” by reports that Serbia had sold a number of missiles to Ukraine.
“We are following this story and ask Belgrade for an explanation,” he added.