Serbia, the only country in Europe to refuse to impose sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, has agreed to supply weapons to Kyiv or has already sent them, according to a secret Pentagon document.
The document, designed in the form of a diagram, recorded the responses of the governments of 38 European countries to Ukraine’s requests for military assistance.
The diagram shows that Serbia has refused to train Ukrainian forces, but has promised or has already sent weapons. He also states that Serbia has the political will and military potential to supply weapons to Ukraine in the future.
The document is marked “CONFIDENTIAL” and “NOFORMA”, which means that it is forbidden to transfer it to foreign intelligence services and armed forces. It is dated March 2 and bears the seal of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Reuters notes that it was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the document, and Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic called the information “not true” in a statement on Wednesday.
“Serbia has not sold and will not sell weapons to either the Ukrainian or Russian side, or to the countries surrounding this conflict,” Vucevic said.
The government of President Vucic remains neutral on the war in Ukraine, despite historical, economic and cultural ties with Russia.
“If this document is true, it either shows Vučić’s duplicity towards Russia, or he is under enormous pressure from Washington to deliver weapons to Ukraine,” said Janusz Bugajski, an Eastern Europe expert at the Jamestown Foundation Foreign Policy Institute.
The US Department of Justice is investigating the leak, and the Pentagon is assessing the damage to US national security.
Three categories
The Pentagon chart divides responses to Ukraine’s requests for assistance into three categories:
- Countries pledged to provide training and lethal assistance.
- Countries that have already provided training, lethal assistance, or both.
- Countries with the military capability and political will to “provide lethal assistance in the future”.
Austria and Malta are the only two countries to score no in all three categories.
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The disclosure of the scheme comes just over a month after documents allegedly showing a November delivery to Kiev of a Serbian manufacturer of 122mm Grad surface-to-surface missiles were published on the pro-Russian channel of the messaging app Telegram. The documents included a bill of lading and an end user certificate from the government of Ukraine.
In March, Moscow announced that it had asked Belgrade for an official explanation of the alleged shipments, state-run Russian news agency TASS reported, citing Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Military industry Krusik Corp. Valievo denied supplying Ukraine with missiles or other weapons. Vučić called these claims “blatant lies”.
Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.
Source: Kathimerini
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