Serbian MP for Chinese weapons: We don't have an account to fuck with the U.S.

Reactions that came after Serbia's president confirmed the reports that it was considered buying the Chinese antiaircraft system FK-3, do not distinguish much from what came out of the international community when it came to buying Russian weapons. Vucic's party MP considers Serbian power has enough orders from the West to put his finger to his head before risking sanctions again.

However, procurement of Russian military helicopters and anti-aircraft systems, Pancir, according to the informers' interpretation, had drawn Serbia close to US sanctioning, the eventual acquisition of Chinese FK-3 would not jeopardise that.

This does not mean that there will be no price to pay, Zoran Dragic, professor of the Faculty of Security and MP in Serbia's Parliament as representative of Serbian President Vucic's party, writes the Serbian newspaper Danas.

“Armation is political merchandise and when we talk about gun purchase we never talk about business. Any such transaction sends strong political message” highlights Dragisic.

Even if the producer of missile systems Serbia has considered to be buying is not included in the blacklist that serves as a legal principle for imposing sanctions, Dragisic stresses that orders that earlier Western days are sufficient to take “place the finger on the head”.

After the reactions we could hear, we would have to calculate what we would benefit and lose with the purchase of those missile systems. I'm not sure we can afford to breach relations with the US for buying that system” said Dragisic.

Asked about possible consequences of buying Chinese weapons, Dragisic mentioned that Serbia is not expected to be found before being hit by sanskione.

“However, the West does not welcome such a transaction and it is expected to take into account in the next situation that is important to us”.

The information that was reached on the purchase of the Chinese FK-3 system had published the Balkan network for security, which had found that information in the company's reports of import and export “Jugoimport SDSM”. Two days ago, Serbia's president had partially confirmed their reports, stressing that buying this system is being considered.

Whenever we decide to buy something, there's always something against it. We haven't bought the FK-3 yet, we've been thinking about this and we'll see how much money we have” said Vucic. His statement preceded the US Embassy's announcement in Belgrade since answering the Free Europe question, he stressed that governments would have to be aware of the short and long-term risks as well as the price business brings with Chinese companies.

“The supplier's selection would have to contain Serbia's stated goal of more integration into Europe. There are other suppliers who do not depend on authoritarian regimes, which provide equipment not only with the capacity to adapt to Serbia's defence needs, but also at the price of similar quality”, had ordered by the American Embassy.

Yesterday there was also reaction from the European bloc, whose message was carried by Peter Stano, the European Commission spokesman who stressed that it is necessary for Serbia to progress towards EU integration, gradually adapt to its security and external policy in the framework of negotiations.