Dmitry Rogozin went to Belgrade on a one-day working visit, and held talks with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dačić and First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vučić.

After the talks Mr Rogozin said Russia and Serbia may establish a commission on military-technical cooperation and joint action of law-enforcement bodies in the near future.

He said Russia and Serbia have agreed to cooperate in modernising certain categories of weapons. “We have explored with our experts opportunities for defence production in Serbia and have concluded that Serbia is fairly capable of producing competitive weapons and military hardware in certain positions,” Mr Rogozin said. He noted that initially the two countries will cooperate in modernising Russian-made combat equipment for markets in Russia, as well as other countries. “We will primarily concentrate on a wide range of ammunition products,” he specified.

Mr Rogozin said it would be possible to speak in more detail about defence cooperation after Russia and Serbia sign a strategic partnership agreement.