Belgrade: The purchase of fighter jets from France does not affect the relations between Serbia and Russia

According to RCO News Agency, “Alexander Volin”, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, told the Russian news agency “Tass” on Saturday evening that Serbia’s agreement with France to buy Rafale fighter jets will not affect the relations between Belgrade and Moscow.

He added: “The purchase of Rafale fighters was done for military and practical reasons and will not have a negative impact on the relations between the Republic of Serbia and the Russian Federation in any way. “Serbia will remain militarily neutral and will not join the anti-Russian movement or any kind of anti-Russian sanctions.”

The Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia also said: “In this case, Russia showed how much it cares about Serbia and why it is a country led by people who are respected in the world. Russia also expressed its respect for Serbia this time.” If it were the other way around, if Serbia were to buy MiG fighters from Russia, would NATO and the European Union have behaved the same way?”

“Russia treats Serbia as an equal partner, and the Serbs are grateful to Moscow for that,” Volin continued.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on August 29 that the country will buy 12 Rafale fighter jets from France for 2.7 billion euros. This contract is not only for the delivery of the aircraft, but also includes the entire package of related services.

The news of the conclusion of the sale of these multi-purpose combat aircraft was announced during the joint press conference of the presidents of Serbia and France in Belgrade.

According to Associated Press, efforts to strengthen Serbia’s relations with the European Union have been mentioned among other goals of Emmanuel Macron’s visit to this country.

He said that this agreement will significantly increase the capabilities of the Serbian military.

Reacting to this news, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the decision to buy jets from France reflects the free choice of “our Serbian friends”.

He said that every country is guided by economic and other considerations when making such decisions.

In an interview last year, Vucic told Reuters news agency that the purchase of 12 new Rafale fighter jets would cost Serbia about three billion euros.

Serbia, which is one of the candidate countries for membership in the European Union, has one of the largest armies in the Balkan region and still relies on Soviet-era fighters such as MiG-29 and Mil-35 helicopters, along with Russian tanks and missiles.

The Serbian army also has Chinese attack drones and anti-aircraft missiles.

Vucic also said that Serbia is looking to expand cooperation with Airbus and Thales companies.

Belgrade has already bought “H125M” helicopters and “C-295” transport planes made by Airbus for its police and army forces, as well as “Mistral” surface-to-air missiles and “Tales” radars.

Serbia is a militarily neutral country, but recently joined a program of the “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” (NATO) alliance for countries that do not want to join this alliance, called the “Partnership for Peace” program.

Serbia, on the other hand, has formally applied for EU membership, but has made little progress on rule of law and democratic reforms, which are the main preconditions for membership in the 27-nation bloc.

Serbia has not yet made much progress in the field of rule of law and democratic reforms, which are the main prerequisites for membership in this 27-nation bloc.

Following the Western sanctions against Russia, Vucic announced that Serbia will go to other sources for the purchase of weapons. Serbia took a stand against Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and condemned it, but did not join the sanctions imposed by the West against Russia.

Serbia is almost completely surrounded by NATO member states; Among these countries is Croatia, which also uses Rafale fighters.

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