Starovic: Investment in the Army of Serbia Unrelated to the U.S. Selling Arms to Kosovo

Members of the Army of Serbia

A state secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Defense, Nemanja Starovic, said in Belgrade, on Jan. 15, that it is "irresponsible to say" that fresh investments in the Army of Serbia that had been heralded had anything to do with a U.S. decision to sell Javelin anti-tank missiles to Kosovo.

The U.S. State Department had previously approved the sale to Kosovo of Javelin anti-tank missiles and corresponding equipment worth $75 million, after which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that Serbia would spend almost EUR740 million this year on the procurement of military equipment.

"It is irresponsible to claim that this new round of investments in the Army of Serbia has anything to do with some new acquisitions carried out for the so-called Kosovo Security Forces, as we have been intensively working to modernize the Serbian military for the past 10 years," Starović said at the panel discussion "The Concept of Military Neutrality and Serbia's Relations with NATO."

It is expensive, he added, but it is also necessary.

"As a state that has built its foreign and security policy on two pillars - political independence and military neutrality, we must primarily rely on our own forces, which is what we are doing," the Serbian government official said.