Iraq wants its fighters back, Serbia says

“A certain number of MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft were brought to Zagreb in the late 1980s for maintenance,” the defence ministry’s press office said.

During the war in Croatia, which accompanied the break-up of Yugoslavia, most were taken to Serbia "in a useless condition, while one plane in relatively bad condition flew from Zagreb to Belgrade," the statement said.

It added that Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac had told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about the planes during a recent visit to Baghdad.

"Iraqi authorities have expressed interest in making those aircraft operational, which will be analysed by the defence ministries of Serbia and Iraq," the statement said.

The ministry neither confirmed nor denied that an Iraqi delegation has already been in Belgrade negotiating the return of the planes, as announced in late August in Baghdad by Iraqi defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed al-Askari.

The Soviet-built MiGs "were sent by Saddam's government in 1989 for maintenance and everything was paid for with Iraqi money," Askari said Aug. 29.

He said the planes are important for Iraq, as "our air force only possesses helicopters."

The Iraqi official said Baghdad was seeking to recover 19 of the aircraft.

The former Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia had close links with Saddam's regime, and was a major exporter of arms to Baghdad before breaking up in the 1990s.

In late August, Sutanovac announced a deal under which Serbia would export $100 million of weapons to Iraq.