Instead of buying Russian fighters discussed since last year, Serbia plans to buy French Rafale. This was announced by President Aleksandar Vucic, writes Bloomberg..

Serbia relied on Russian-made MiG aircraft received in 2017 for air defense, Vucic said, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, acquiring spare parts for them became almost impossible..

“You can’t import practically anything from Russia that is related to military purposes,” he explained, adding that despite the difficulties with Russian supplies, Serbia plans to continue modernizing the armed forces..

As Vucic said at the IDEX 2023 arms exhibition taking place in Abu Dhabi, Serbia's military budget for 2023 from the current 1.5 billion euros can be increased by 700 million euros. Additional funds, he said, will go to the modernization of tanks, the purchase of infantry fighting vehicles and drones, as well as French aircraft.. If the negotiations are successful, the deal will cost 3 billion euros.

At the end of last year, the Serbian Ministry of Defense reported that the country, traditionally dependent on Russian military aircraft and technology, is considering two options for replenishing the fleet of the air force.. In addition to the Rafale, the Serbian military was exploring the possibility of acquiring Russian fighters.

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But, according to the experts of the Center, the analysis of strategies and technologies, the introduction of large-scale anti-Russian sanctions finally closed the issue of the possibility of purchasing Russian aircraft by Serbia, so Rafale became the only option for them..

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic recently slammed the Wagner Group, an organization accused of seeking to recruit Serbs for the Kremlin's war against Ukraine..