BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia suspended all arms exports for 30 days, the protection minister mentioned Friday, simply days after the United States imposed sanctions on the Balkan nation’s intelligence chief over alleged unlawful arms offers and different felony actions.

Defense Minister Miloš Vučević mentioned that the export ban is critical in an effort to fulfill the wants of the Serbian military and increase its fight readiness amid the simmering disaster within the Balkan area.

“It does not mean Serbia is going to war or calling for war, but we are looking at all security risks and challenges,” Vučević mentioned.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić first introduced the transfer a number of days in the past. He cited “internal security” in Serbia as the explanation for the ban whereas tensions simmer with neighboring Kosovo, a former Serbian province whose 2008 declaration of independence Belgrade doesn’t acknowledge.

Vučević mentioned the choice might be reviewed after 30 days.

Serbia is formally searching for European Union membership, nevertheless it has refused to affix Western sanctions towards Russia. The U.S. and EU officers not too long ago have stepped up efforts to get Serbia and Kosovo to succeed in an settlement, fearing attainable new instability in Europe whereas the battle continues in Ukraine.

Serbia has confronted accusations that it was exporting weapons to international locations underneath worldwide ban, or to Russia and Ukraine. Vučević denied the studies.

“They keep accusing us that we sold to one side or the other,” he mentioned.

The United States this week mentioned the top of Serbia’s intelligence company, Aleksandar Vulin, “has been implicated in transnational organized crime, illegal narcotics operations, and misuse of public office.”

“Vulin has maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with U.S.-designated Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tesic, helping ensure that Tesic’s illegal arms shipments can move freely across Serbia’s borders.”

Serbia has promised to analyze U.S. claims. The Organized Crime Prosecutor’s workplace mentioned Friday they'll search data and “concrete evidence” towards Vulin from the U.S, the state RTS tv reported.

Vulin, a detailed related of Vučić, is understood for his pro-Russia stance. He was appointed spy chief for the Balkan state final yr after beforehand serving as each the minister of protection and inside.

Last August, Vulin visited Moscow, a uncommon go to by a European state official that mirrored Belgrade’s continued ties with Moscow regardless of its condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine. Vulin then advised Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that “Serbia is the only state in Europe that didn’t introduce sanctions and was not part of the anti-Russian hysteria.”

Vučić has mentioned that Washington imposed sanctions due to Vulin’s place on Russia, and never crime and corruption. Vulin’s ouster has been among the many calls for of weekslong road protests in Serbia that erupted within the wake of two mass shootings in early May.

There has been no response from Vulin to the sanctions, whereas his Movement of Socialists celebration has described the measures towards their boss as an assault on Serbia, accusing the U.S. of “raping the truth.”

The U.S. to date has imposed sanctions on quite a few officers from the Balkans accused of corruption and seen as threatening peace and stability within the area following the wars within the Nineteen Nineties, and for serving to “advance Russia’s malign activities in Serbia and the region.”

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