Serbia holds military parades, parallel to anti-government protests

2025-09-20 14:24:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Today in Belgrade, under the slogan "The Power of Unity", a military parade is being held. A group of citizens, encouraged by student protesters, also gathered in support of the army.

Over 10,000 troops are expected to march in the parade today, along with over 2,500 weapons and military equipment, according to authorities.

The parade is taking place at a time of massive anti-government protests in Serbia, sparked by the deaths of 16 people in an accident in Novi Sad last November.

"A deterrent against any potential aggressor from the neighborhood."

This is what Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i? said about the need for new weapons purchases, while participating in a military parade in Beijing.

He met there with the President of China, Xi Jinping, and said he used his participation in the parade to see "what would be interesting to purchase for the needs of the Serbian Army."

What does this parade show about Serbian foreign policy?

Serbia is displaying 19 new weapons systems at its military parade today, highlighting its diversified foreign policy with arms deals from France, China, Israel and Russia.

Officials in Belgrade describe this as part of the country's aspiration for neutrality. But for analysts, the move shows that strategic priorities are as important as nominal non-alignment.

While it awaits EU membership and has no inclination towards NATO, Serbia seeks to present a de facto neutrality, partly as a result of its recent history following the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

According to Gordan Akrap, a security advisor to the Croatian government, the memory of NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo conflict still represents a significant obstacle on Belgrade's path to the alliance.

"It is difficult to think that Serbia will join NATO in the near future, not only because it does not want such a thing, but also because there are many tasks that Serbia must complete to apply for NATO membership," said Akrap.

But Ana Brnabic, speaker of the Serbian parliament, said that Serbia is clearly determined on its path to joining the EU.

"We know that our strategic priority as a country is EU integration and I do not see this as a competition," Brnabi? told Euronews.

"The rules of the game are such that they require that every country that is joining the EU gradually adapt its security and foreign policy to this union," she said.

On September 3, Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i? participated in the military parade in Beijing, which marked the 80th anniversary of China's victory over Japan in World War II, together with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the only head of government from an EU and NATO member state present at the parade.

But does this indicate that Belgrade is leaving Brussels?

"I don't think so. An example is the People's Republic of China, the highest EU officials also visited Beijing," Brnabic said. "Chinese President Xi visited some of the EU capitals. Things don't have to be exclusive," she explained.

Diversification of the weapons arsenal

Belgrade remains one of the few European countries without imposing sanctions against Russia, from which it has been buying weapons until 2022. At the same time, official Belgrade promised humanitarian aid to Ukraine and has been repeatedly accused by Moscow of providing Kiev with materials, prompting Serbia to suspend all arms exports.

Serbia also purchased Rafale multi-role fighter jets from France and anti-aircraft missile systems from China, among several arms deals with various suppliers in recent years.

But this also has a negative side, because experts believe that diversifying arms purchases from different countries could generate technical compatibility problems between weapons systems within the same army.

Meanwhile, in his analysis of this issue, Croatian advisor Akrap gave a different perspective: "Sometimes arms purchases from different sellers and different sources are made as a diplomatic gesture of political goodwill towards the exporting country."/ CNA