Vucic: I Want Serbia to Purchase Arms from Great Britain, the U.S., as Well as from Israel

Aleksandar Vucic (President's office/Dimitrije Goll)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on March 5, responding to criticism of Serbia for buying Russian arms, that Belgrade wishes to purchase weapons from the U.S. and Israel, as well as from Great Britain.

“You criticize us from time to time about buying Russian weapons, armaments, and everything else. Okay, I want to buy your weapons, I want to buy your armaments… Do you want to sell it or not? Do you want our money?,” Vucic said in an interview for Foreign Policy, adding that he had said the same to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a meeting in Washington, D.C..

Pompeo responded, according to Vucic, by saying the matter will be taken into consideration.

“And now we’re going to buy more weapons from Israel, from the U.S. in the future, from Great Britain as well. That’s what I discussed with [British Prime Minister] Boris Johnson two days ago,” said the Serbian president.

When asked whether he had been warned in Washington about Chinese investments in Serbia, especially when it comes to Huawei, Vucic responded that Serbia “will have a very open and transparent procedure regarding 5G network.” “But the entire Europe is cooperating with Huawei. Starting with Britain, continuing with Germany and all the others,” reasoned Vucic.

Speaking about Kosovo, Vucic said that the majority of Serbs prefers “a frozen conflict” with Kosovo. He also said he hopes that Pristina will revoke the tariffs, which, according to him, would be the result of U.S. pressure.