Serbia’s Arms Trade Company was Revealed to be Selling Millions of Dollars Worth of Armaments to Israel
Serbia’s state-owned firm, Yugoimport-SDPR, has been a major arms exporter to countries worldwide for many years. Lately, it was found that the firm has been exporting millions of dollars worth of armaments to Israel, thus establishing a longstanding relationship between the UAE and the firm.
In its Balkan Insight report, the following scenario was painted: by 2024, Yugoimport-SDPR had exported at least $17.1m. They were smuggling one million worth of weapons to Israel through Civilian and military aircraft. This relationship accompanies the fact that Serbia in the past used to be one of the principal arms-dealing countries in the 20th century during the Cold War when it was still a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Yet Serbia guarantees its military-industrial complex with various clients, a feature that in 2015 was revealed when Serbia sold ammunition to Ukraine for $858m, according to the Financial Times. According to the export statistics of arms in Serbia, the amount was about $ 1 billion in 2021. 2 billion.
The arms trade has long reached the Middle Eastern region, especially Serbia. Anyone interested in Serbia knows that, after the financial crisis, Serbia nearly went bankrupt and applied for billions in loans from the UAE in 2013. An essential component of this economic partnership was seeking arms and ammunition. Over the years, Serbia and the UAE entered an initial arms agreement. Serbia is to deliver armored personnel carriers while the two are to work on developing a guided surface-to-surface missile, a deal worth $214m.
Apart from arms sales, the UAE invested significantly in Air Serbia, although the Serbian state is almost ready to buy out the Emirati stake in the state carrier. Serbia has not relinquished its arms trade partnership with the UAE since the start of the conflict. In 2022, according to a Serbian defense ministry press release, Yugoimport-SDPR inked a deal with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to supply vast amounts of ammunition to the Gulf monarchy.
Alongside Saudis and Qatari out of late, the UAE has channeled fresh money into Serbian tourism via a fund connected to Kushner, former presidential advisor and the son-in-law to ex-president Trump. Another of Serbia’s state-led arms industries also sustains ties with KSA. In 2018, Balkan Insight revealed that Serbia’s Krusik, a company closely connected with Yugoimport-SDPR, offered as many as the various calibers of mines and grenades at considerably reduced rates to a Saudi Arabian firm. Arms Watch, an investigative journalism site, further pulled the agenda by averting that some of these Serbian arms were delivered to ISIS in Yemen.
The Saudi Arabia and UAE-led coalition intervened in Yemen to target the Houthis after the country plunged into civil war in 2014. This attack led to thousands of airstrikes on Yemen, equivalent to thousands of civilians’ loss of lives and a humanitarian calamity, but did not oust the Houthis.
The affair with weapons supplies, especially with Middle Eastern countries, brought the political affinities of Serbia into question. However, its Cold War past makes Serbia one of the world’s leading arms traders with numerous implications for political and ethical character. Arming states such as Israel and Yemen exemplify how potential customers that reside in conflict areas are being supplied arms for the country’s strategic aim of achieving economic and diplomatic benefits for the defense industry, even at the cost of criticism and counterarguments from international organizations.
