Brnabić on arming Serbia: ‘We are a militarily neutral country’

The President of the Assembly of Serbia said this on Friday Ana Brnabić, which defended the military strengthening of Serbia and at the same time called out Croatia for its cooperation with Kosovo and Albania. She agreed to talk to RTL Danas during her stay at the security conference GLOBSEC in Prague. There, the new security circumstances within were in focus NATO alliancechanges in American policy towards Europe, but also the accelerated arming of the countries of the region.

Brnabyć asserted that Serbia has no alternative but additional investment in defense because, as she says, unlike neighboring countries, it is not a member of any military alliance.

According to the estimates presented at the conference, in 2024 and 2025, Serbia will allocate approx. 2.8 billion eurosthe leading name among the countries of the Western Balkans. In recent years, the country has been intensively buying armaments from various sources – from France and China to Russia and Israel. Among the most significant acquisitions are French fighter planes. Rafalewhich Croatia also acquires, as well as Chinese hypersonic missiles, the first of their kind in Europe.

Interlocutors from military circles in Serbia believe that the president Aleksandar Vučić by purchasing weapons, at the same time, it builds political relations and ensures international support of the countries from which it acquires military equipment.

Brnabyć particularly criticized the military cooperation between Croatia, Albania and Kosovo, asserting that such agreements do not contribute to the stability of the region.

– I don’t think it is correct for Croatia to help violate UN resolutions – she said, referring to the security cooperation between Zagreb, Tirana and Pristina.

She added that Belgrade has not yet received a clear explanation of the purpose of that agreement and assessed the fact that, according to her words, the security connection takes place “around central Serbia” as “interesting”.

On the remark that Serbia is also developing military cooperation with HungarianBrnabić answered that it was a “completely different type of agreement” and emphasized that Serbia has forms of military cooperation with Croatia as well.

At the same time, the conference in Prague was marked by discussions on relations within NATO and the increasingly unpredictable moves of the American President Donald Trump. Allies are increasingly openly warning that Washington makes important security decisions without prior coordination within the Alliance.

At the same time, Polish officials claim that the strengthening of the American military presence in Poland is not accidental, but the result of a long-term political and defense rapprochement with the administration. Donald Trump, including increased allocations for defense and the purchase of American weapons.

On the eve of the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, it is becoming increasingly clear that the issue of allies’ loyalty, defense investments and attitudes towards current crises will become one of the key topics within the Alliance.