‘Total lie’: MoD says no ‘Russian tanks for Serbia’ intercepted in Romania

The Russian Defense Ministry has dismissed reports claiming that a delivery of Russian arms to Serbia, including tanks and APCs, was seized by Romania on the Danube River. Moscow hasn’t sent any arms to Serbia lately, it said.

All reports about the alleged Romanian detention of a Russian transport vessel carrying tanks and armored personnel carriers are a “total lie,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that it has not recently sent a shipment of such military hardware along the Danube.

“All the shipments have been delivered in accordance with the contract within the agreed time frames,” the ministry’s statement said, adding that Russia and Serbia have a bilateral agreement on military and technical cooperation, which covers arms exports.

Earlier, Romanian news agency Mediafax claimed that a ship carrying 30 Russian T-72 tanks and 20 APCs was blocked in Romania. Later, citing the Romanian Foreign Ministry, AP reported that Bucharest refused to issue a transit visa for the shipment because of sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia in 2014 over its alleged role in the crisis in Ukraine.

No statement on the subject could be found on the ministry’s website at the time of writing.

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