Islam Times - Serbia in talks with Russia, Belarus over S-300 purchase

Islam Times - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says Belgrade has entered talks with Russia and Belarus over the purchase of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems.

On Sunday, Vucic told reporters that his country needs two divisions of the missile system along with a command post to defend its airspace.

He noted that he had personally entered talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“I mentioned it during the talks with President Putin, and we talked about it. We discussed it with President Lukashenko as well,” he stressed.

At the beginning of the year, Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic noted that his country was mulling the purchase of the S-300 system.

The Serbian president also noted that Belgrade signed a contract with Russia for the purchase of six Russian MiG-29 fighter jets, 30 T-72 tanks, and 30 BRDM-2 personnel carriers.

Vucic also talked about some reports that surfaced earlier in the week over Russia selling S-300 to Croatia, which would violate a 1990s UN arms embargo on the country.

“We have no information that Croatia is in possession of the S-300. Generally, one can’t hide such a thing, it’s not a needle,” he said.

Russia also slammed the reports, noting that they were “provocative, twisting the facts, and aimed at smearing Russian politics in the Balkans.”

“Russia has always followed its international legal obligations, including those under the embargo regime on arms supply for the conflicting parties of the Yugoslavia crisis in 1991-1995,” said the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of Information and Press, Artem Kozhin.