Serbia to not buy Russian S-400s

The president of Serbia denied having plans of buying S-400 air defense systems from Russia owing to cost issues, on Wednesday.

"From what I saw, this is an impressive system. But we don't plan to purchase it because we don't have money to pay for it," Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian President, was quoted as saying by RTS TV channel.

The two countries concluded their joint military exercise, dubbed Slavic Shield-2019, in the last week of October. A battalion of S-400s and a Pantsir-S anti-aircraft system were deployed at Serbia's Batajnica air base for the drills, marking the first deployment of the systems on foreign soil.

“If you have a weapon like the S-400, no one will ever attack you. US warplanes will not fly over Turkey, while Israeli ones already do not fly over Syria, except for Golan Heights,” Vucic said.

He added that Serbia “will strengthen” its military might by buying Russian-made defense systems “that are not on the US sanctions list.”

On October 24, Vucic announced procurement of Pantsir-S system from Moscow.