Filenews 22 July 2024 - by Fanis Makrides
The helicopters were delivered last November with the deal including payment of money and delivery of military material to the Cypriot army. Of course, the armed forces in Serbia are not able to use the helicopters yet.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, at an official ceremony at a Belgrade air base on the occasion of receiving the helicopters, said the first six would be operational by January 2024, while the other five by the end of this summer.
For now, however, only one "flying tank," as the Mi35 is called, is fit to fly. According to information that came to light, on July 1 a helicopter "took to the sky for a test flight at Fabrika Aviona Utva Airport in Pančevo, just 20 kilometers from Belgrade."
According to the monthly German magazine Flug Revue, which focuses on the aviation industry, the reason has to do with helicopter spare parts and Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Author Patrick Schwerger notes: "(...) since the intensification of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing EU sanctions against Russia, channels for spare parts, maintenance and support for Russian military equipment have been severely disrupted. Although Serbia is not an EU member, it borders European EU and NATO countries 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 that Serbia also operates. President Vucic commented on this issue in 2023: "You can no longer import almost anything from Russia – at least almost nothing that has a military purpose."
The 11 Russian-made helicopters were transferred last November from Pafos Air Base "Andreas "Papandreou" to a corresponding air base in Batainitsa, with a Ukrainian transport aircraft. The first part of the agreement has already been implemented.
