Aleksandar Radić

Vucic started his visit to Moscow on Wednesday to agree the arms deal with Russia, which will see Serbia acquire six MiG-29 fighters and an unknown quantity of other military equipment, his office said.

BIRN contacted the Serbian Defence Ministry for information on the arms deal with Russia but did not get a reply by the time of publication.

The Serbian Prime Minister's claim that foreign intelligence services have increased their activities in Serbia has left analysts divided, with some calling the claim a PR stunt.

A leading military expert has called for a Serbian parliamentary committee to investigate the kidnap by ISIS of two employees of Belgrade's embassy in Tripoli, after Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the weekend revealed a new link between the incident and the arms trade.

The Serbian Defence Minister, Bratislav Gasic, and the First Deputy Head of the Russian Service for Military Technical Cooperation, Andrei Markov, signed an agreement on Tuesday to establish a regional centre in Belgrade for the repair and maintenance of Russian-made helicopters.

Announcements about the modernization of the Serbian Army within the existing budget allocations are "absolutely unrealizable."

This is according to military analyst Aleksandar Radic, who spoke for the Beta agency.

Military analyst Aleksandar Radic believes the decision to down a Russian military plane on the border with Syria was made by Turkey "at the national level."

The joint anti-terrorist military exercise in Serbia on Saturday, called "The Shield", will be broadcast live, Radio Television of Serbia has announced, and will involve more than 500 participants from the security and defence agencies.

Top political leaders from the ruling coalition will be present among the crowd.

As Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic agrees to military cooperation and arms purchases with Russia during his visit to Moscow this week, Serbian soldiers are preparing to take part in a US-led military exercise in Germany with other NATO states.

Maja Kocijancic, the European Commission spokesperson, said that "in the current circumstances" a Serbian-Russian joint military exercise would "send a wrong signal", the Belgrade-based Beta news agency reported on Tuesday.

"We expect Serbia to act in accordance with its obligations under EU accession process," Kocijancic added.

Serbia's parliament has adopted a plan on military deployment in UN and EU-led peacekeeping missions, which envisages the engagement of 670 soldiers in 19 operations of the UN and the EU in 2015.