Aleksandar Vucic (Photo: Presidency of Serbia / Dimitrije Goll)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Feb. 23 that Serbia's decision to buy Russia's Pantsir missile system was no secret, and that it would be meaningless to sanction Serbia for that and that it was possible that Western warnings had the prupose of preventing further purchases of Russia's most powerful systems.
In an interview with Prva TV, President Vucic said that even if sanctions were introduced, "they would affect certain people, not the country," adding that he didn't think that sanctions were likely.
Commenting on a question by Gen. Frederick Ben Hodges, a former commanding general of the United States Army Europe, who wanted to know "against whom Serbia is arming itself," Vucic said that Hodges was not Serbia's enemy, but that Serbia would retain its right to make decisions in its best interest, as an independent and sovereign state.
Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin confirmed on Feb. 22 that the first portion of the Pantsir S1 missile system had arrived at the Batajnica airport, near Belgrade, on Feb. 22. Serbia and Russia signed the sales agreement in 2019.
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