Relations between Serbia and Russia cannot be called fraternal, and the only reason that Belgrade has not joined the punitive measures against Moscow are the sanctions that Yugoslavia was subjected to in the 1990s. This was stated by the speaker of the Serbian parliament Ana Brnabic in an interview with the Brussels portal Politiko, given on the sidelines of the GLOBSE international conference.
According to her, Serbia "fully complies" with the European Union (EU) in terms of values, and objected to the assertion that the government of Aleksandar Vucic maintains "fraternal relations" with Moscow.
"I would not say that this is a fraternal relationship. Our President Vucic communicates with President Vladimir Putin, but the leaders of some member countries The EU is also in touch with his administration. Some EU leaders, such as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, have also been to Moscow this year. And Vucic was in Moscow on his 80th birthday, on this important anniversary. He was not in Moscow this year," she said.
Brnabic said Serbia had "unequivocally stated" that Russia's attack on Ukraine was "a pure act of aggression and a clear violation of international law," and that it voted to expel Russia from the The UN Human Rights Council.
"The world sees everything in black and white, so in Brussels will be surprised when I say that we condemn the Russian aggression against Ukraine and fully respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine, because Ukraine respects the territorial integrity of Serbia. Ukraine has not recognized the so-called Kosovo. The only reason we did not impose sanctions against Russia is that we ourselves were under sanctions in the 1990s, and our people do not like sanctions," Brnabic said.
She also noted that Serbia does not have large volumes of trade with Russia, while, for example, it has more significant volumes of trade with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Therefore, the imposition of sanctions against Russia is completely irrelevant," said the speaker of the Serbian parliament.
In addition, Brnabic said that European integration is a "strategic priority" for Serbia, but added that the "rules of the game" in this process have changed compared to 2014, and assessed the situation as "unfair."
"The rules of the game have changed, and I think this is unfair, because when you fully comply with the common foreign and security policy of the EU, you are a member The EU and have full security and protection from the EU. We don't have that. Whenever chaos arises, for example, a trade war between the US and the EU, we are treated as a third country, and we are expected to fully comply (with EU rules). I think it's unfair. It is not in our national interest. I think the EU should understand this," Brnabic said.
Recall that Serbia has not officially joined the European sanctions against Russia. However, Belgrade continues to strive to become Len The EU therefore adheres to a number of anti-Russian restrictions imposed by Brussels.