The US is alarmed because of the S-400 behind NATO lines
The United States is concerned about recent Russian-Serbian military exercises.
Kommersant writes about this in an article about the visit to Belgrade of the State Department emissary, Thomas Zarzhetsky, who is responsible for sanctions policy.
At the same time, a few days ago, US Special Representative for the Balkans Matthew Palmer expressed concern about Serbian-Russian military-technical cooperation and, in fact, threatened Belgrade with sanctions.
“Of course, we are concerned not only about the deployment of Russian military equipment on Serbian territory, but also about the possibility of Serbia acquiring large Russian weapons systems,” Palmer said.
The warning from the American special representative followed the joint Serbian-Russian military exercises held in Serbia at the end of October, in which a division of Russian S-400 air defense systems and a Pantsir-S battery took part.
The Russian Ministry of Defense specifically noted that this is the first time that S-400 systems are participating in maneuvers outside the Russian Federation. And Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who visited the exercises, said that Serbia would acquire one Pantsir-S system from Russia, and with two S-400s it would solve all problems with protecting its airspace.
Serbian experts suggest that the main purpose of the State Department emissary’s visit to Belgrade could be to get an answer from her on whose side she is on in the ongoing confrontation between Russia and the West.
“When the Russians arrived almost behind NATO lines with the S-400 missile system, this reads as a symbolic confirmation of the Russian presence on Serbian territory. This gives Serbia a reason to ask the question: what does this mean?” says Serbian military expert Alexander Radic.
Kommersant sources close to the Serbian authorities say that Belgrade intends to continue to maintain a balance between Russia and NATO, and therefore will constantly try to neutralize allegations that appear from time to time about a tilt in one direction. However, experts consider such balancing risky.
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