BELGRADE (Reuters) -Russia accused Serbia on Monday of selling artillery ammunition to Ukraine through intermediaries in Eastern Europe, making the second such allegation in a month against its traditional Balkan ally.
In a statement posted on its website, the Russian foreign intelligence agency, the SVR, said two Serbian companies sold rockets for multiple rocket launchers and mortar shells, or components for them, through two firms in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Both Bulgaria and the Czech Republic belong to NATO and the European Union, and supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.
“The manufacturers in Serbia are well aware of the real consumers of their products and … that their rockets and shells will kill Russian soldiers and residents of Russian settlements,” the SVR said.
There was no immediate comment from Serbian officials. But populist President Aleksandar Vucic, speaking before the SVR statement was published, said following a meeting with top army generals in Belgrade on Monday that the country had halted all arms sales.
“We have halted literally everything, and we are now sending (ammunition) to our own army,” Vucic told reporters.
Serbia maintains a balancing act between its historical ties with Russia and the West. Belgrade has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but has so far refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow.
Serbia also recognizes Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including territories held by Russia.
Serbia wants to join the EU, but Russia remains its biggest gas supplier, and the country’s sole oil refinery is majority-owned by Gazprom and Gazprom Neft.
In May, Vucic said Belgrade and Moscow will investigate how Serbia-made ammunition reached Ukraine, after SVR made similar accusations which soured relations between the two countries.
Speaking in Moscow on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said he expects Belgrade will “take measures” to rein in such arms sales.
“The topic certainly requires special attention, given the sensitivity of this issue for us and for Serbia,” Peskov told Russia’s Life TV.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Moscow bureau; Editing by William Maclean)
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