There are no more supplies: Serbian Parliament demands hearings on arming Kiev

The Serbian parliament has initiated hearings on the supply of military products from Belgrade to Ukraine. This was reported to Izvestia by Dragan Stanojevic, head of the Committee of the National Assembly on Diaspora and Serbs in the region and a member of the We are the Voice of the People faction. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has already stopped arms exports and promised to establish control over future shipments. Experts believe that these measures can bring results. Belgrade has been repeatedly seen supplying weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including mortar shells. How Serbia will control sales and how much the problem complicates its relations with Moscow.

Does Belgrade supply weapons to Kiev

The National Assembly of Serbia has initiated hearings on the issue of arms supplies from the republic to Ukraine.

— We have initiated a hearing of the defense committee in Parliament on this issue. There is no response yet. Our parliamentary group "We are the Voice of the People" made a statement in parliament, and there we combined two things: arms supplies and Vucic's trip to Odessa to Zelensky (on June 11 at the Ukraine–Southeastern Europe summit. — Ed.)," Dragan Stanojevic, head of the Parliamentary Committee on Diaspora and Serbs in the region and a member of the We are the Voice of the People faction, told Izvestia.

The politician noted that he receives threats because of his comments to the Russian media. "I am truthfully commenting on what is a problem in our relations, because the supply of weapons to Ukraine, if we know that they are being used to kill Russian soldiers, our brothers, is completely unacceptable," Stanoevich summed up.

The issue of relations in the Moscow–Belgrade–Kiev triangle became relevant at the end of May. Then the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reported that Serbian defense enterprises, contrary to the "neutrality" declared by official Belgrade, continue to supply ammunition to Kiev. A scheme using fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries, primarily the Czech Republic, Poland, and Bulgaria, serves as a cover for anti-Russian actions. Recently, African countries have also been involved in this purpose.

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How do weapons from this country enter the black market

The largest companies of the Serbian military-industrial complex participate in the supply of military products to Ukraine, including Yugoimport SDPR, Zenitprom, Krusik, Sofag, Reyer DTI, Sloboda, Prvi Partizan and others.

"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 Kiev to formally receive, in the future, not Serbian military products, but those assembled at weapons factories in Western countries," the SVR noted in a press release dated June 23.

In particular, the Krushik plant from the city of Vallevo sold several large batches of kits for assembling 122-mm Grad MLRS missiles to the Czech company Polichske Construction. The Loznica defense company Eling has sent kits for the production of the same missiles, as well as 120-mm mines, to the Bulgarian company EMCO.

It is important that the first reports of Serbian weapons in Ukraine appeared back in August 2024. The Russian Foreign Ministry then called on Belgrade to adhere to the refusal of assistance to Kiev and to be vigilant when exporting military products.

Serbia is a country close to Russia and the information about arms supplies to Kiev is quite alarming, said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president. He noted that Vladimir Putin and Alexander Vucic discussed the sale of Serbian military products to Ukraine during his visit to Moscow on May 9.

On June 23, Vucic announced the suspension of all ammunition exports. The Serbian leader noted that now all supplies will be carried out only by decision of the National Security Council. In the future, Serbia will create black, gray and white lists for the export of military products.

Additional control measures presented by President Alexander Vucic may bring the necessary results, INF Program manager Milan Lazovich told Izvestia.

— There is a certain tension in the relationship, but at the same time, the parties are discussing pressing issues without delay. Belgrade's reaction was immediate, and a dialogue with Moscow took place. The Serbian side assured of strengthening control over exports of its military—industrial complex products so that it does not fall into the hands of the Kiev regime, and Moscow stated that it trusts Belgrade in this matter, but will also continue to monitor the situation, the expert noted.

What Serbian weapons did Ukraine buy

Arms factories provide employment for 24,000 Serbs, and sales bring Belgrade a good income of $1.3 billion in 2021. There is no state monopoly on the sale of weapons in Serbia, more than 200 enterprises are engaged in this.

Dmitry Astrakhan, a military correspondent for Izvestia, previously served in the People's Militia of the DPR and personally participated in collecting evidence of the use of Western-made ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the process, he came across products from the Serbian military-industrial complex more than once.

"We have been recording the use of 60 mm mortar ammunition since the very beginning of the events in Donbass," Dmitry Astrakhan told Izvestia. — This is a caliber that was not in the Soviet army, so Ukraine could not get it from Soviet warehouses. The shafts of these mines are made of brittle metal, so they give small fragments during the explosion and are difficult to identify. Around 2016-2017, after the shelling, we managed to collect fragments, sift and restore them with characteristic edges, according to which we were able to identify a 60-mm mortar mine manufactured in the former Yugoslavia.

During 2018-2019, during the terrorist attacks, samples of mines that were used to drop from drones fell into the hands of the People's Militia of the DPR. Because of this, both the shank and the markings on them remained intact, the military commander noted.

— We also found a mine whose fuse did not work due to a blow to the sharp corner of the brick - the needle of the fuse jammed, — Dmitry Astrakhan recalled. — Then we were able to establish that these are fairly new mines, produced already in the 21st century. By that time, the only plant producing these mines among the States of the former Yugoslavia remained in Serbia. There were even journalistic investigations on this topic.

For example, in 2019, Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaitanjieva published information on the Watch Arms portal that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using mortar shells manufactured in Serbia in combat operations in the east of the country. At the time, this provoked harsh criticism of Vucic from his domestic political rivals.

— The Ukrainian Armed Forces also hit Donetsk with "Grad" — Serbian rockets, — Dmitry Astrakhan reminded. — It is important that the Minsk agreements, which limited the caliber and distance of weapons to the front, were written under the Soviet nomenclature, since Ukraine claimed that it did not possess Western weapons. The mortars in the document were classified from 82 mm, that is, from the minimum Soviet caliber. Therefore, Kiev then spread false information about the alleged production of mortars and 60 mm ammunition in order to circumvent Minsk's restrictions and launch terrorist attacks literally in front of the OSCE.

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This issue may be raised already during the third round of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.

At the same time, the arms supply scandal to Ukraine is already directly affecting Serbia's domestic policy. This provides additional opportunities to criticize President Vucic. The Patriotic wing accuses him of betraying Russia, while the liberals accuse him of continuing to try to sit on two chairs and not fully align himself with the EU on the anti—Russian agenda, Milan Lazovich stressed. In particular, Vucic said that he had already been threatened with protests at defense industry enterprises.

The political crisis continues in the Balkan republic: protests by students and opposition supporters have been taking place there since the end of last year. They began after the collapse of the canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, when 16 people died. Demonstrators block roads and transport interchanges almost daily, demanding that those responsible for the tragedy be punished. According to the Serbian authorities, the goal of the protesters is to overthrow President Vucic, with Western—funded media and NGOs behind them. The dissatisfied were able to achieve the resignation of the government of Milos Vucevic, he was replaced by endocrinologist Juro Matsut.