(PanARMENIAN.Net) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic criticized the deal to sell armaments to Armenia. In his words, the steps taken by President Tadic, are contrary to Prime Minister Voislav Kostunica's opinion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not issue permits for the exportation of arms; rather, that is the job of the Serbian government. We only provide a political opinion, and that opinion has not changed from the outset. We have long declared that the OSCE has imposed an arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan because of the conflict in Nagornyy-Karabakh and that there is an instructive Resolution 8153 by the UN Security Council that requires all countries to refrain from supplying "any arms or ammunition to Armenia or Azerbaijan." underlined Draskovic, reports Trend.
Then there is the decision by the US Government to discontinue business with countries that violate arms embargoes. Since the Kragujevac arms manufacturers earn more than 20mln dollars a year from exporting arms to the United States, there is a big risk of losing 22mln dollars because of that 2mln dollars deal with Armenia, but from the outset I have thought that the state should compensate the arms manufacturers. They will if the government decides they can, because that it entirely under their purview. If that is what the government decides after this, in my opinion, irresponsible and private diplomacy by President Tadic, then our state is obliged to report that exporting of arms to the OSCE and the United Nations and explain to them why the embargo and the UN instructive resolution were violated, stated Vecernje Novosti in Belgrade.
It is worth mentioning that officials in Armenia do not confirm arms deals with Serbia.