The Russian and Chinese arming of Serbia, as well as their growing political and economic influence in the Balkan state, is being watched with unease in the West and among Serbia’s neighbors, the AP reported on Tuesday, adding that a NATO official said that the Alliance is committted to strengthening its partnership with Serbia.
It recalled that Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said that Belgrade is considering the purchase of a Chinese air defense missile system following a warning from the US that deals with Beijing could jeopardize the Balkan country’s proclaimed European Union membership goals.
Serbia, which has been beefing up its military mainly with Russian aircraft and armored vehicles, last month received six Chinese CH-92A attack and reconnaissance drones. That made Serbia the first European country to deploy the Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles, it said and added that tensions are growing in the Balkans, which went through a devastating civil war in the 1990s and a NATO intervention to stop a bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999.
“Serbia, which formally wants to join the EU, declared military neutrality in 2006 and joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace outreach program. Its populist leadership is against membership in the Western military alliance although most of Serbia’s neighbors are within NATO,” the AP said.
It quoted an unnamed NATO official who said that Serbia has the right to choose who to buy weapons from. The NATO official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity said “defense procurement is a national decision.” “Serbia has the right to freely choose its political and security arrangements. NATO and Serbia are close partners and we are committed to strengthening our partnership with Serbia, while fully respecting its policy of neutrality,” the official said.