Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on 11 April that Serbia plans to acquire 12 Dassault Rafale multirole fighter jets from France. Military experts in the West see this as a sign that Belgrade is beginning to distance itself from its traditional military supplier and ally Russia.
Speaking to Reuters Vucic said: “We have been negotiating this purchase of 12 new jets for a year, and we are also looking at buying another 12 used (Western) planes from another country.”
Milan Karagaca of the Belgrade-based Center for Foreign Policy and a former military attache to NATO, said: “The fact that the planes are made by France could indicate Serbia … has disconnected itself from Russia’s military technology, .. politically it is a signal of approaching closer to the EU.”
