{"id":3805,"date":"2025-05-29T19:09:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T23:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3805"},"modified":"2025-05-29T19:10:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T23:10:01","slug":"russia-accuses-ally-serbia-of-betrayal-for-supplying-arms-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3805","title":{"rendered":"Russia accuses ally Serbia of betrayal for supplying arms to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) \u2014 Russia on Thursday accused Serbia<\/a> of exporting arms to Ukraine, saying it\u2019s a stab in the back by its longtime Slavic Balkan ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSerbian defense enterprises, contrary to the \u2018neutrality\u2019 declared by official Belgrade, continue to supply ammunition to Kyiv,\u201d the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, SVR, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement alleged that the export of the Serbian arms to Ukraine are going through NATO intermediaries, \u201cprimarily the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria. Recently, exotic options involving African states have also been used for this purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbia\u2019s populist President Aleksandar Vucic<\/a> told the state RTS television that he has recently discussed the issue of the arm exports to Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that it was agreed that the two countries form a \u201cworking group\u201d to establish how Serbian-made weapons reach the Ukrainian frontlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbian arms exports to Ukraine, mostly the Soviet-era-caliber ammunition still used by Ukraine\u2019s defense forces, have long been known since 2023, but it\u2019s not clear why the Russian foreign security service decided to react now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, Serbia denied it exported arms<\/a> to Ukraine after Moscow demanded to know if it had delivered thousands of rockets for Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SVR statement said the arms sales are being carried out through a \u201csimple scheme using fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries\u201d serving as \u201ca cover for anti-Russian actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added: \u201cThe contribution of Serbian defense industry workers to the war<\/a> unleashed by the West, the outcome of which Europe would like to see as a \u2018strategic defeat\u2019 of Russia, amounts to hundreds of thousands of shells … as well as a million rounds of ammunition for small arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is unlikely that such supplies can be justified by \u2018humanitarian considerations.\u2019 They have one obvious purpose \u2014 to kill and maim Russian military personnel and the civilian population of Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems that the desire of Serbian defense industry workers and their patrons to profit from the blood of fraternal Slavic peoples has made them completely forget who their real friends are and who their enemies are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attacks on Serbia from the East and West \u201care frequent because it leads autonomous and independent policies,\u201d Vucic said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although claiming he wants Serbia to join the European Union, Vucic<\/a> has maintained close relations with Russia. He defied EU warnings and attended Russia\u2019s Victory Day parade in Moscow<\/a> on May 9. EU officials said that it was inappropriate for Vucic to stand side by side<\/a> with Putin, considering Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vucic has said his decision to attend the parade<\/a>, which marked the World War II victory over Nazi Germany, was part of efforts to maintain \u201ctraditional friendships\u201d \u2014 Russia is a fellow Slavic and Orthodox Christian nation \u2014 while seeking EU entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbia, which relies almost fully on Russia for its energy supplies, has refused to join Western sanctions on Russia imposed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and hasn\u2019t supported most EU statements condemning the aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) \u2014 Russia on Thursday accused&nbsp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3807,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3805\/revisions\/3807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}