It is noted that among the dozens of classified US intelligence data published online, there is a document that outlines the responses of European governments to Ukraine’s requests for military training and lethal assistance.
Titled “Europe: A Response to the Current Russian-Ukrainian Conflict,” the document lists in chart form the “assessed positions” of 38 European governments in response to Ukraine’s requests for military assistance.
The diagram shows that Serbia has refused to provide training to Ukrainian troops, but has committed to send lethal cargo or has already provided it. It was also noted that Serbia has the political will and military ability to provide weapons to Ukraine in the future.
The document is classified as Secret and NOFORN, which prohibits its distribution to foreign intelligence agencies and the military. It is dated March 2 and contains the seal of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the document.
The office of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the Ukrainian embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
We add that the Vučić government was neutral in the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, despite the country’s deep historical, economic and cultural ties with Russia.
“If this document is accurate, it either demonstrates Vučić’s duplicity towards Russia, or he is under enormous pressure from Washington to supply weapons to Ukraine,” Janusz Bugaisky, an expert on Eastern Europe at the Jamestown Foundation, a foreign policy institute, said.
In the Pentagon table, responses to Ukraine’s requests for assistance were divided into categories:
- countries that have committed to providing training and lethal assistance;
- countries that have already provided training, lethal assistance, or both;
- countries that have the military capability and political will to “provide lethal assistance in the future.”
For example, Austria and Malta were the only countries to score “No” in all four categories.
The release of the table comes just over a month after documents appeared on a pro-Russian Telegram channel that allegedly showed the Serbian arms manufacturer had shipped Grad 122mm multiple launch rocket systems to Kiev in November of this year. The documents included a bill of lading and an end user certificate from the Ukrainian government.
Recall that in March, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced the secret transfer of ammunition for the MLRS to Ukraine from Serbia.
Then the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, noted that his country did not provide weapons to Ukraine.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called this statement “an outright lie” and stressed that his country does not supply ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, and also prohibits the re-export of shells to other countries.
However, Vučić later admitted that Serbian-made weapons could, in a certain way, end up in Ukraine through intermediaries.
Read urgent and important messages about Russia’s war against Ukraine on the channel RBC-Ukraine on Telegram.
