Aleksandar Vucic stated any Western consultant who comes to go to begins by demanding that Belgrade slap sanctions on Moscow
The West is just not giving up on steamrolling Serbia into imposing sanctions on Russia, the nation’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, has revealed. Nevertheless, he stated Belgrade has up to now been in a position to withstand the strain.
Talking to Serbia’s Blissful TV channel on Monday, Vucic stated that “whoever comes [to Belgrade feels their] first obligation is to clarify to me that I’m a jerk who didn’t introduce sanctions.”
The Serbian head of state acknowledged that he had already gotten used to fixed “strain [and] ultimatums” from Western representatives.
Final month, the European Parliament’s Overseas Affairs Committee slammed Serbia for its failure to affix the EU sanctions in opposition to Russia, and urged Belgrade to close down Russian “disinformation” shops, together with RT Balkans.
The US State Division additionally known as for a ban on the media outlet, which started broadcasting in November 2022.
Talking in mid-March, President Vucic reiterated that his authorities’s “place is to not impose sanctions” on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine. He made it clear that this may very well be modified solely in “circumstances when there isn’t a method out.”
His comment got here in response to calls made earlier that month by the nation’s Financial system Minister Rade Basta on social media. Basta argued that Belgrade ought to impose punitive measures as a result of Western strain was changing into insufferable.
The minister shortly got here beneath hearth from inside his personal social gathering for his feedback.
Serbia has resisted strain from the EU and the US to sanction Russia, citing, amongst different issues, the obvious discrepancy between Western calls for that Belgrade acknowledge the independence of the breakaway province of Kosovo and their simultaneous insistence on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
