In a press conference held at the Military Security Agency (VBA) premises on Saturday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that this year, Serbia will allocate nearly 740 million euros for the acquisition of military equipment.
In light of the United States’ decision to sell Javelin anti-tank missiles to the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF), Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic made the following statements:
“Serbia currently has 186 million euros in available funds, which we will promptly allocate for the purchase of tools and weapons from domestic arms industry factories.”
Furthermore, he mentioned that during this year, two additional funding packages of 150 million and 400 million euros will be made available for further equipment and arming of the Serbian Armed Forces. These funds are in addition to the 360 million euros already allocated in the Serbian Budget for additional armaments.
“When you tally it all up, you’ll see that this will be the year in which we equip ourselves to the highest standards, quickly, and with great strength,” emphasized Vucic.
Serbia intends to acquire eight “Nora” self-propelled howitzers, 81 “Milos” armoured vehicles, 26 infantry fighting vehicles, and 30 turrets for the “Lazar” fighting vehicle, with the expectation that all this equipment will be delivered by 2026.
Regarding the U.S. decision to sell 246 U.S.-made anti-tank missiles and accompanying equipment to Kosovo, Vucic expressed concerns that this move contradicts Resolution 1244, which, according to him, does not allow Kosovo to maintain an army. He argued that Resolution 1244 prohibits any armed groups of Kosovar Albanians, yet they have established and continue to build an army. While acknowledging that Serbia may not possess the military strength of countries like the U.S., England, Germany, or Turkey, Vucic stressed the importance of highlighting these violations of international legal norms to the world.
Previously, on January 11th, the President of Serbia expressed disappointment over the U.S. announcement, characterizing it as a “big disappointment” after it was presented to him by U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill.
Regarding the extraordinary session of the European Parliament to discuss the elections held in Serbia on December 17th, Vucic stated that his primary concern is the session of the Serbian Parliament and that he is not interested in or informed about any session of the European Parliament. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), led by Aleksandar Vucic, emerged victorious in the extraordinary parliamentary, provincial, and local elections, although some parts of the opposition contested the results, alleging election fraud. SNS denies these claims, maintaining that these were the elections with the fewest irregularities to date.
Klement Groselj, the European representative from the liberal group, mentioned in an interview on January 12th that the European People’s Party (EPP) is obstructing the requests from other parliamentary groups in the European Parliament to hold an extraordinary debate on the elections in Serbia within the institution.
