The death of a Serbian arms executive in Moscow has spotlighted Yugoimport SDPR, the state-owned trading firm that is a key supplier of weapons and military equipment to the Cyprus National Guard.
Radomir Kurtic, the Moscow delegation director for Yugoimport SDPR, was found dead on a Moscow street on 17 November.
Days later, a committee from the Serbian company discovered that many files and the hard drives of the office computers were missing, according to the pro-government Belgrade newspaper Blic.
Yugoimport SDPR is Serbia’s largest arms exporter.
The firm recently delivered TAMNAVA multiple rocket launchers and Nora B-52 self-propelled howitzers to Cyprus.Belgrade seeks answers amid arms controversyThe death occurs amid rising friction between Belgrade and Moscow over Serbia’s arms sales.
Last June, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) included Yugoimport SDPR on a public list of Serbian companies allegedly supplying ammunition to Kyiv.Serbian security services informed President Aleksandar Vučić and requested an official report on the death from Russian authorities.
As of 16 December, there has been no response from Russian services, Blic reported.The SVR had previously stated that “it seems that the desire of Serbian arms manufacturers… has made these people completely forget who their real friends are and who their enemies are.”
The government in Belgrade has repeatedly denied that Serbia directly exports weapons to either Ukraine or Russia, stating it cannot verify whether Serbian weapons exported to third countries ultimately reach the Ukrainian front.
