WASHINGTON/BELGRADE: Serbia, the only country in Europe that has refused to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, has agreed to supply or has already sent arms to Kyiv, according to a leaked Pentagon document.
The document, a summary of responses of European governments to Ukraine’s requests for military training and “lethal aid” or weapons, was one of the dozens posted online in recent weeks in what could be the most serious US secrets leak in years.
The document, titled “Europe|Response to Ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict,” lists the “assessed positions” of 38 European governments in response to Ukraine’s requests for military assistance in chart form.
According to the graph, Serbia declined to provide training to the Ukrainian forces but had committed to sending or had already supplied lethal aid. It also stated that Serbia has the political will and military capability to provide Ukraine with weapons in the future.
The document is marked Secret and NOFORN, which means it cannot be distributed to foreign intelligence services or militaries. It is dated March 2 and has the Joint Chiefs of Staff seal embossed on it. The offices of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the Ukrainian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Despite the country’s deep historical, economic, and cultural ties with
Russia, Vucic’s government has declared neutrality in the Ukraine war.
Janusz Bugajski, an Eastern European expert with the Jamestown Foundation, a foreign policy institute said that if this document is accurate, it either demonstrates Vucic’s duplicity towards Russia or demonstrates that he is under enormous pressure from Washington to deliver weapons to Ukraine.
The Justice Department is looking into the leak, and the Pentagon is assessing its impact on US national security.
Pentagon’s classification of documents
The Pentagon chart classified responses to Ukraine’s aid requests into four categories: countries that had already provided training, countries that had committed to providing training and lethal aid,lethal aid, or both, and countries with the military capability and political will “to provide future lethal aid.” Malta and Austria were the only two countries with “No” responses in all four categories.
The chart’s release comes just over a month after the documents, posted in a pro-Russian channel on the Telegram global messaging app, purportedly showed the shipment of 122mm Grad ground-to-ground rockets to Kyiv by a Serbian arms manufacturer in November. A shipment manifest and a Ukrainian government end-user certificate were among the documents.
Moscow said in March that it had asked Belgrade for an official explanation of the alleged deliveries, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Valjevo-based arms manufacturer Krusik Corp. denied providing Ukraine with rockets or other weapons. Vucic referred to the allegations as “a notorious lie.”
