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The conflict in Nagorno Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan has lasted for five days. Serbia was also involved in the conflict in a very specific way, as it sold arms to both sides. A bigger problem could arise in relations with Azerbaijan, which is an important economic partner of Serbia and whose authorities were surprised when they realized that Serbia was also arming on the other side. The big question is whether the state of Serbia or just one arms dealer profited from the arms export to Armenia.
One thing is common to the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies: Serbian ammunition in their rifles, mortars and rocket launchers.
“There are no Serbian weapons there. We sold ammunition to both of them, a little more to Azerbaijan … Because they were allowed end-user destinations,” Aleksandar Vučić said.
And really legally, everything is clean. The United Nations embargo does not exist. But a political problem has arisen: because of the little ammunition exported to Armenia, because Azerbaijan has been a strategic partner of Serbia since the time of the last government, a country whose companies built the Milos Veliki highway, and a country with which there are major investment plans. .
“Serbia needs money and economic investments, and that was a pragmatic approach in which relations developed outside the mainstream in the defense industry as well. There were serious agreements for the transfer of military technologies and the production of weapons based on Serbian technologies, “said Aleksandar Radic. military analyst.
That arms export and technology transfer from Serbia to Azerbaijan was worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and then over the summer, Azerbaijani soldiers on the front line in Nagorno Karabakh collected the remnants of rockets that were fired at them from the other side and they saw that Armenia has the same ammunition produced in Serbia.
In 2020, in May and June, Serbia approved two agreements for the export of arms to Armenia and it was ammunition for rifles and pistols. In the previous period, since 2015, I think there were exports of this type of weapons that Azerbaijan talks about. “Rasim Ljajic says.
Out of a total of 19 permits for arms export to Armenia since 2017, up to 15 were obtained by the private company Vektura Trans, which is associated with the most famous Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tesic, who is blacklisted by the Treasury of United States since 2017.
“In 2018, the state did not give Krushik a permit to export to Armenia. Less than a month later, Slobodan Tesic received a permit,” says journalist Vuk Cvijic.
In mid-August, Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic tried to smooth over diplomatic problems with Azerbaijan’s strategic partner.
“When manufactured mortar mines were found in Krusik, then when Armenian television showed training with our mortars and since 122mm caliber missiles were found, of course Azerbaijan is not happy with that now and the question is how it will behave in greater cooperation with Serbia. “, adds Radić.
President Vučić publicly justified the arms export to Armenia by saying that Mirko Cvetković’s government concluded that exports were possible in 2012, but in fact there were no exports until 2015 and the time he was Prime Minister of Serbia.
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