- Serbian arms industry comes under Russian attack
Russian intelligence on May 28 spread a statement that Serbia had been supplying weapons to Ukraine. According to a report from Moscow, Serbian defense enterprises (Jugoimport – SDPR J.P., Zenitprom, Krušik, Sofag, Reyer DTI, Sloboda, Prvi Partizan and others) allegedly “continue to supply ammunition to Kyiv” through intermediary countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and unnamed African states.
The statement came just three weeks after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić visited Moscow to mark WW2 Victory Day.
On May 29, Vučić said that he had discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Russia on May 9, and that Serbia and the Russian Federation had established a working group “to establish all the facts.”
Responding to Moscow’s accusations, the Serbian president said similar claims were being made on the other side. “Last week, two ambassadors attacked me, saying that we exported ammunition to the Russian Federation through a Turkish company, and that Serbian ammunition appeared on the front from the Russian side,” Vučić said in a television interview. In this context, he stressed that the main thing for him was that Serbia’s defense industry function. “I had to explain that I really don’t know what the contract was, and it’s impossible for me to know everything, but, you know, our factories must live and work,” the Serbian president said, apparently trying to emphasize the economic benefits of Belgrade’s multi-vector policy. Where can Serbia export ammunition “if it can’t get to America, the European Union, Africa, the Middle East,” he asked reporters rhetorically.
In recent years, the media, including international ones, have already reported the fact that Serbian weapons and ammunition are reaching the Ukrainian army through third countries. Belgrade has repeatedly denied that Serbia directly exports weapons to Ukraine or Russia, and that it cannot influence whether Serbian weapons from third countries end up on the Ukrainian front.
The current statement by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service “can be understood as a kind of attempt to discipline the authorities in Belgrade, given the fact that all the information mentioned in the statement has long been known,” Predrag Petrović from the Belgrade Center for Security Policy (Predrag Petrović iz Beogradskog centra za bebezopasnu politiku) told reporters in a comment. “It seems that Moscow in this way wants to keep the Vučić regime in its orbit,” he believes.
According to political analyst Aleksandar Đokić, who expressed his opinion in an interview, the Russian intelligence agency’s statement shows that Moscow wants to get the most out of the Serbian authorities – to stop arms exports to Ukraine – taking advantage of the moment when Vučić is weakened by domestic protests.
Visiting Moscow on May 9, Vučić effectively turned to Putin for help, “so that his electorate can see that some big actor still supports him,” Đokić noted. However, according to him, the move quickly became “Putin’s joker in political trading.”
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On the morning of May 30, an explosion occurred at the Krušik ammunition factory in the Serbian city of Valjevo, injuring five workers.
The company said this was an accident that occurred due to the activation of the igniter booster (aktiviranja pojačnika upaljača).
Regional media have noted that the explosion at the Krušik plant, which occurred just a day after Russia accused Serbia of supplying weapons to Ukraine, inevitably raises questions – was it an ordinary accident or an eerie message from Moscow?
- North Macedonia, UK sign strategic deal to develop infrastructure projects
North Macedonia and the UK have signed a strategic partnership agreement, Prime Ministers Hristijan Mickoski and Keir Starmer announced on 16 May on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Tirana.
The two leaders also discussed “North Macedonia’s recent accession to the Joint Working Group on Migration.” Starmer said in Tirana that the UK is in talks with several countries to set up “return centres” for rejected asylum seekers. One of the questions raised by the new deal is whether it will include the UK taking in migrants, similar to the one between Albania and Italy. But there has been no confirmation of this just yet.
On May 22, in London, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski and UK exports chief Gareth Thomas signed the agreement, agreed in Tirana. On May 28, the North Macedonian parliament voted to ratify the deal.
The full name of the document, according to Nikoloski, is the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Development of Infrastructure Projects. It concerns transport, education, environment, information technology, healthcare, and other sectors.
According to Macedonian government officials, the agreement will allow North Macedonia to attract investments worth GBP 5 billion (about EUR 6 billion) in infrastructure projects, being the largest economic agreement the country has signed in its history.
However, former North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski criticized the document in an interview with DW. “There is nothing strategic in what we saw,” he said. “In terms of its content, it could be a memorandum of cooperation,” Pendarovski said.
- Sofia demands that Skopje implement previously reached agreements to unblock EU integration process
By an absolute majority of 194 votes “in favor”, the Bulgarian National Assembly adopted on May 30 a resolution on North Macedonia’s progress toward the EU accession. There was not a single MP present at the meeting who voted “against” or abstained.
The resolution emphasizes that the first significant step towards North Macedonia’s advancement towards the EU should be the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution of North Macedonia “on an equal basis with other peoples of the country.” It is also noted that the commitments set out in the 2022 agreement, which outlines an action plan for Skopje in the process of European integration, are not limited to constitutional amendments, containing a number of other key elements. Bulgaria, in particular, expects North Macedonia to develop a specific Action Plan to protect the rights of minorities and vulnerable strata. The plan should be implemented throughout the accession process and contain clear, measurable, and effective measures.
At the same time, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristian Mickoski said in the Macedonian parliament on May 29, answering questions about the constitutional changes the country needs to make to speed up its path to the EU, that as long as there are no Macedonians in the Bulgarian Committee on Minorities, there will be no change in Skopje’s position on the issue.
In Bulgaria, there is a Committee that includes representatives of the Roma, Turkish, and Armenian minorities, the Macedonian head of government said. “Don’t we, Macedonians, … deserve a place in this committee, and don’t we deserve a place in our preamble (to the Constitution)? Until I see a Macedonian there who is part of this committee, and we all have to work on this, I will not move a millimeter as long as I am prime minister,” Mickoski said.
The current North Macedonian government has repeatedly stressed that Bulgaria’s demands can only be met in the final stages of its EU accession process. The country, which has already changed its name at the request of Greece, is thus seeking to protect itself from more and more demands from its neighbors.
North Macedonia seeks to discuss the issues blocking its path to the EU with Bulgaria at the NATO summit next month. “We are ready for a conversation, for bilateral talks at the level of partnership within the NATO alliance,” Prime Minister Mickoski told a press conference in Skopje, which he held with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. “We are ready to sit down and talk to anyone who agrees to some mediation,” he said, noting that his country was tired of constant blockades over bilateral issues.
Meanwhile, Bulgarian officials emphasize that Skopje will not be able to make progress in the EU accession process without fulfilling agreements reached, primarily without constitutional changes, including a reference to Bulgarians in the preamble to the Constitution of North Macedonia.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Georgiev, during a debate in parliament of a resolution on North Macedonia, stated that there is no Plan B for Skopje regarding the implementation of the framework conditions for EU accession negotiations, and that Sofia will not deviate even an inch from what was agreed in 2022.
- Informal Franco-German non-paper calls on EU to impose restrictions on Republika Srpska
France and Germany have sent a non-paper to the member states of the European Union, in which the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is assessed as very difficult, and calls on the EU to take a number of measures that, in the opinion of the authors, will contribute to the resolution of the crisis in BiH.
“The current constitutional crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most difficult challenge to the sovereignty, unity, as well as the functional and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 30 years since the signing of the Dayton-Paris Framework Agreement for Peace,” states the Franco-German non-paper, quoted by regional media. The authors of the document call on the European Union to suspend financial projects that benefit Republika Srpska and to explore introducing targeted sanctions against individual RS officials.
According to media reports, the document, titled “Responses to the Attacks of the Republika Srpska on the Constitutional Order of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” is dated May 12.
The issue of the non-paper was confirmed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Milan Mojsilović, who on May 22, after a meeting of the National Security Council, stated that the document was presented by President Aleksandar Vučić.
According to media reports, the non-paper notes the RS has taken a number of actions that undermine the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These actions include the adoption by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska of a number of controversial laws after the RS President Milorad Dodik was sentenced to a year in prison and banned from holding the office of RS President for six years by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Court on February 26 for failing to implement the decisions of the High Representative. These include, in particular, the tentative approval of the draft of the new RS Constitution, the adoption of laws that prohibit the activities of a number of judicial and law enforcement bodies of BiH on the territory of the RS, and the declaration of the decisions of these bodies as unenforceable.
The document emphasizes that “the objective of the European Union remains to contribute to the preservation and buildup of a peaceful, stable, sovereign and independent functional European state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which complies with its commitments in accordance with the principles and values on which the European Union, democratic societies and the rule of law, as well as the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina are based within the framework of the European Union.” The immediate goal of the Franco-German non-paper is defined as “the repeal of unconstitutional laws and the withdrawal of the draft of the new RS constitution.” To this end, it is proposed to limit financial support for Republika Srpska, introduce targeted sanctions and suspend contacts with RS officials – President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of RS Radovan Višković, and Speaker of the RS National Assembly Nenad Stevandić.
It is stressed that the EU should suspend all projects that directly or indirectly benefit the Republika Srpska under the EU Western Balkans Investment Facility (WBIF). It is also proposed that the European Commission not put forward any new projects that could benefit the Republika Srpska.
It was also suggested that the EU reach out to other financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and insist that they adopt a similar approach.
According to the document, criteria for lifting the restrictions shall be developed after the RS leadership takes constructive steps.
Regarding sanctions, it is proposed to apply the existing system of restrictive measures against individuals or entities that undermine the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since there is no consensus within the EU on the issue, the document calls on individual member states to introduce travel bans for certain RS officials.
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The Serb representative in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the current chairwoman of this body, Željka Cvijanović, called the non-paper on Bosnia and Herzegovina unacceptable, as, in her opinion, it is not based on real grounds and further contributes to the political destabilization in the country.
- BiH Constitutional Court annuls controversial laws of Republika Srpska
On May 29, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared null and void the controversial laws adopted by the People’s Assembly of Republika Srpska in response to the court’s verdict against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik.
In particular, the so-called law on “foreign agents” (on a special register and publicity of the work of non-profit organizations of Republika Srpska) was annulled. This law, judges say, is “almost identical in content” to the Law on Foreign Agents introduced in Russia.
The RS laws restricting the powers of BiH authorities in the areas of justice and security (on the non-application of laws and the prohibition of the activities of extra-constitutional institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Republika Srpska) were also annulled. The Court found that these RS laws undermined the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As is known, in February 2025, the People’s Assembly of Republika Srpska banned the activities of the court and prosecutor’s office of BiH and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) on its territory. The laws were adopted after the BiH court of first instance sentenced Milorad Dodik to a year in prison and a six-year ban on holding the presidential post. The court handed down the ruling for disobeying the decision of the High Representative, Christian Schmidt.
The Constitutional Court also annulled the amendments to the Criminal Code of Republika Srpska, which provided for a new criminal offense, “disobedience or failure to comply with decisions of institutions or bodies of Republika Srpska”. According to the judges, the contested legal provision is formulated so broadly that it provides for criminal liability for failure to comply with any decision of any institution or body of Republika Srpska, regardless of whether they are final, constitutional, and legitimate.
The court’s judgment expectedly saw sharp criticism in Republika Srpska. The head of the parliamentary faction of Dodik’s party (SNSD) in the People’s Assembly of Republika Srpska, Srdjan Mazalica, labeled the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina “a branch of Christian Schmidt” and accused the court of being “guided by the interests of only one people (Bosniaks) and a political agenda.”
- Dodik attends international forum in Moscow
Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik visited Moscow, again, where he took part as an honored guest in an international meeting of high-ranking security officials.
The event was held on May 27-29 under the chairmanship of Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu.
In his speech, Dodik expressed support for Russia, stating that, in his opinion, “a new balance of power is being created in the world and the collective West can no longer impose its rules.”
The President of Republika Srpska also met with the Secretary of the Russian Security Council. According to him, the parties “talked about how our strategic cooperation would develop and confirmed that all agreements would be implemented, and also outlined future vectors for the development of our relations.” Shoigu, for his part, criticized the verdict of the BiH court against Dodik, describing the decision as “an element of a widespread campaign against Republika Srpska, the Serbian people as a whole,” and declared his support for Republika Srpska. A demonstration of support that Moscow provides to the RS president was, apparently, the main purpose of Dodik’s visit to the Russian capital.
