Defense ministers of the two countries, Alexander Vulin and Sergei Shoigu, discussed the possibility of a deal including four multipurpose Mi-17 helicopters, as many MI-35s, as well as BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles.
The Serbian Defence Minister said a strong Serbian army is a guarantee of stability in the Balkans.
Vulin met with his Russian counterpart Shoigu ahead of the Seventh Moscow Conference on Global Security. While speaking about military cooperation between Serbia and Russia, Vulin noted that it “is progressing at a speed that we agreed on”. The conference is scheduled to end today.
In addition, Serbia plans to continue to purchase MiG fighters and T-72 tanks.
Russia will also transfer four combat training aircraft Yak-130 to Belarus and a battery of anti-aircraft missile systems “Tor-M2”. The contract is signed and the customer has already paid the advance.
Earlier, Russia supplied Serbia with four batteries of “Torov” and signed a contract for 12 multi-purpose Su-30SM fighters. Its cost is estimated at $600 million. The customer will receive new combat aircraft in about a year’s time.
Serbia will neither join sanctions on Russia nor support anti-Russian hysteria if Aleksandar Vucic heads the country, Serbian Defense Minister Vulin said.
“Russia can rest assured that if Aleksandar Vucic is Serbian President, Belgrade will neither impose sanctions on Moscow nor participate in anti-Russian hysteria,” he said.
Vulin pointed to the close nature of relations between the two countries and asked the Russian defense minister to convey the Serbian people and President Vucic’s congratulations to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his “big democratic election win”.
Shoigu, in turn, pointed out that the two countries’ defense ministers held meetings several times a year, to enhance bilateral military cooperation. “I have warm memories of the celebrations dedicated to the 73rd anniversary of Belgrade’s liberation from Nazi occupation, held last year – it was an important event for Russian-Serbian relations and for me personally. It once again proved good and I would say brotherly relations between our people. I hope they will remain like that,” the Russian defense minister said.
The pair also discussed the “most pressing global security issues” according to Shoigu.