Serbia Declares Contract to Acquire Russian Tanks ‘Secret’

Serbia's Defence Ministry told BIRN that it cannot provide information about the contractual conditions under which it is acquiring 30 modernised T-72 tanks from Russia - which officials have described as a donation - without getting Moscow's consent.

"We are not able to provide any information and answers to questions because the data that has been requested is foreign secret data which means it has been entrusted to the Republic of Serbia with an obligation to keep it secret," the ministry said in a written response to BIRN's enquiry.

"The relevant authorities will inform the public in due time of the details of this legal transaction, to an extent consistent with the contract that has been concluded, with the consent of the other contracting party [Russia] and to the extent of the information that can be disclosed," it added.

Information about the import of the tanks became public for the first time in July, when the Serbian ambassador to Moscow, Miroslav Lazanski, said that Romania was breaking the Convention on the Navigation on the Danube by not allowing the shipment of military vehicles by river through its country due to an EU embargo on Russian arms acquisitions imposed after the annexation of Crimea.

Lazanski said that in the shipment were 30 modernised T-72 tanks and 30 BRDM-2 armoured combat vehicles, which he said that Russia donated to Serbia several years ago.

"The Romanians blocked the transportation of the donated tanks and armoured combat vehicles from Russia to Serbia. They are not allowing the transportation of these vehicles via the Danube, although the provisions of the Convention do not have any part on which this decision of Bucharest could be based," he told Pink Television on July 13.

Lazanski explained...