BELGRADE, March 5. /TASS/. Serbia is supplying weapons neither to Russia nor to Ukraine, President Aleksander Vucic said on Sunday.
"Serbia is not supplying weapons to anyone. We manufacture munitions and sell munitions. <…> We have not sold either weapons or munitions to either Russia or Ukraine. There is only the so-called end user for Serbia in line with international laws and Serbia’s supplies go only to these countries," he told journalists in Qatar, where he is taking part in the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries. His speech was aired by the Pink television channel.
According to Vucic, Serbia has taken additional measures to prevent munitions transfer to a third party by including a provision banning their resale without Belgrade’s consent into each contracts, including with Turkey.
The Serbian leader recalled that its Krusik defense company had been accused of supplies to conflict zones. "It took many years to put an end to the Krusik matter, and now it has turned out that a mafia of Bulgarian military companies was behind it," he said, adding that such accusations are geared to ruin his authority in Russia.
"Do you want us to destroy Serbia, its defense sector, or do you want us to sell when there are no wars? Then whom we are supposed to sell when there are no wars? <…> We are as pure as the driven snow but we want to earn money. We will invest 100 million euro into our defense industry," he stressed.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on March 2 that the Russian side had asked official position from Belgrade about reports on supplies of Serbian munitions to Ukraine. Earlier, she states Moscow’s "deep concern" about these reports and noted that Russia is keeping a close eye on the situation.