Serbian president claims he faced threats for rejecting arms export requests
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has vowed that Belgrade will not resume the export of weapons and munitions, despite facing significant pressure and threats to stage protests at defense industry facilities.
"The defense ministry has accepted my order but five entities take part in this process and the National Security Council has issued a relevant order to the ministry of trade, which is the last to sign relevant documents, saying that munitions must not leave the country. This is a serious problem for us, because I have been under strong pressure both from inside the country and from abroad since last night," he told journalists, News.Az reports citing TASS.
He stressed that further arms exports would be possible only when authorized by the National Security Council. "From now on, we will sell munitions and weapons to any country only on the resolution of the National Security Council, absolutely transparently. Today, we have agreements only with Cyprus - their helicopters for our Noras (artillery systems - TASS), and with Azerbaijan. But these supplies will stay strictly in their territories, will not be redirected anywhere else," Vucic said.
In his words, he has already received warnings about possible protests at defense enterprises. "Since I said no, I received a warning that rallies will be organized at defense enterprises in July to show me that exports must continue because this about people’s wages," he stressed.
He also promised to revise all contracts and introduce a customer clearance system. "We will draft the so-called black, grey, and white lists. You will see how nervous those who silently generated money thinking that everything can be blamed on Vucic will be. Well, once we stop exports we will have no money and those who used to accuse me of such exports will lament about the lack of wages tomorrow," he noted.
The Serbian leader accused his opponents of seeking to destabilize the situation in the country. "Some of them are reporting to the Americans and the British, others - to the Russians, but no one thinks about Serbia. All they want is to crush Aleksandar Vucic, who can side with only one party - Serbia," he said. "Colossal pressure is being exerted: to allow one, two, five, ten, fifty batches because they have contracts."
Earlier, Serbia’s defense ministry officially confirmed the decision to suspend arms and military equipment exports produced in the republic. According to the ministry’s statement, the suspension is being implemented per instructions from the Serbian president and will require mandatory approval from the National Security Council for any future deliveries.
Earlier, President Aleksandar Vucic announced that Serbia had completely halted ammunition exports and that all such products are now reserved exclusively for the needs of the Serbian military. He added that future exports would only be possible in exceptional cases and subject to special authorization, noting that the previous system - where two ministers could jointly approve exports - has been discontinued.
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