Published on
30/05/2025 – 15:32 GMT+2
Russia accused Serbia of exporting fingers to Ukraine, calling it a “stab in the back from one of Moscow’s longest-standing European allies.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) issued a statement on Thursday claiming that “Serbian defence enterprises, opposite to the ‘neutrality’ declared through legitimate Belgrade, proceed to provide ammunition to Kyiv.”
The observation alleged that the export of the Serbian fingers to Ukraine used to be going thru NATO intermediaries, “primarily the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria.”
“Recently, exotic options involving African states have also been used for this purpose,” SVR stated.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić denied the accusations on Friday, announcing that despite the fact that the contract with the Czech Republic does exist, it does no longer permit exporting the materiel to any other nation.
“For example, they correctly say that there is a contract with the Czech Republic. But no permission was given, and none of the (ammunition) was delivered” to Ukraine, Vučić informed Serbian state broadcaster RTS.
He added that he had already mentioned the problem of fingers exports to Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin lately and that it used to be agreed that Moscow and Belgrade would create a “working group” to ascertain how Serbian-made guns reached Ukraine.
Moscow slams ‘anti-Russian movements’
This isn’t the primary time Vučić has had to answer an identical claims.
The Financial Times reported in June 2024 that Serbian ammunition value €750 million has made its approach not directly to Ukraine.
In March, Belgrade denied it exported fingers to Kyiv after Moscow demanded to understand if it had delivered hundreds of rockets for Ukraine’s defence towards Russia’s all-out invasion.
Serbian fingers’ presence in Ukraine, most commonly Soviet-era calibre ammunition followed as same old and manufactured within the former Yugoslavia, has been publicly mentioned since 2023, however it’s unclear why the Russian overseas safety carrier determined to react now.
The SVR has claimed that the fingers gross sales are being performed thru a “simple scheme using fake end-user certificates and intermediary countries” serving as “a cover for anti-Russian actions”.
The accusations out of Moscow went even additional to mention that “the contribution of Serbian defence industry workers to the war unleashed by the West, the outcome of which Europe would like to see as a ‘strategic defeat’ of Russia, amounts to hundreds of thousands of shells … as well as a million rounds of ammunition for small arms”.
“It turns out that the need of Serbian defence trade staff and their buyers to take advantage of the blood of fraternal Slavic peoples has made them utterly omit who their actual buddies are and who their enemies are,” the statement said.
Vučić stated that the attacks on Serbia from the East and the West are “common” because Belgrade “leads self sufficient and unbiased insurance policies”.
Serbia is one of the countries in the Western Balkans that is considered a major candidate for EU membership. At the same time, Vučić has maintained close ties with Russia, including after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He was among a handful of European leaders to attend Putin’s Victory Day parade in Moscow on 9 May, a decision Vučić defended by saying he was there to celebrate Serbia’s participation in liberating the continent from fascism in World War II.
Serbia also refused to join Western sanctions on Russia and hasn’t supported most EU statements condemning Moscow’s full-scale invasion, although it voted in favour of its condemnation at the UN.
Additional resources • AP
