The agreement between the Republic of Cyprus and Serbia for the sale of 11 Russian Mi-35 helicopters was considered beneficial for our island, but for now, the same cannot be said for the Balkan country.
The helicopters were delivered last November, with the agreement including a cash payment and the delivery of military equipment to the Cypriot army. However, the armed forces in Serbia are not yet in a position to use the helicopters.
The Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, during an official ceremony at an airbase in Belgrade on the occasion of the delivery of the said helicopters, had stated that the first six would be operational by January 2024, while the other five would be by the end of this summer.
For now, however, only one “flying tank,” as the Mi-35s are characterised, is in a condition to perform flights.
According to information published in the media, on July 1, a helicopter “took to the skies for a test flight at the Fabrika Aviona Utva airport in Pancevo, just 20 kilometres from Belgrade.”
According to an article published in the German monthly magazine Flug Revue, which focuses on the aviation industry, the reason for this situation lies in the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
The author, Patrick Zwerger, notes: “(…) due to the intensity of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing EU sanctions against Russia, the channels for spare parts, maintenance, and support for Russian military equipment have been severely disrupted. Although Serbia is not an EU member, it borders the EU and NATO countries of Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria to the east. This makes it difficult to procure components, not only for the Mi-35s but also for the MiG-29 fighter jets operated by Serbia as well. President Vucic commented on this issue back in 2023: ‘You can hardly import almost anything from Russia anymore – at least almost nothing with a military purpose.'”
The 11 Russian-made helicopters were transferred last November from the ‘Andreas Papandreou’ airbase in Paphos to a corresponding airbase in Batajnica, by a Ukrainian transport aircraft. The first phase of the agreement has already been implemented.
