Ambassador Hill on Belgrade-Moscow consultation plan: Russia wants to justify war

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill told FoNet that he had seen the Plan of consultations signed by the foreign ministers of Serbia and Russia, that there was nothing special in it, but that Russia wanted it to justify its war in Ukraine.

Hill said that they did not know what was written in the Plan of consultations signed by the foreign ministers of Serbia and Russia at the end of the week of the United Nations General Assembly, but they knew that the signing of the contract with a country such as Russia was unusual and that they wanted clarification.

“I saw the plan, there’s not much in it. The question is why Russia wanted this and obviously Russia wanted a plan to justify its war in Ukraine. Russia’s behavior has been condemned by everyone in the US, India, even China has criticized them, no one supports them in this effort. The question is why would they get confirmation from anyone for what they did to their neighbor,“ Hill said.

When asked why they asked for an explanation of the signing of the protocol and whether it was an example of a coordinated campaign of pressure on Serbia from the West, Hill said that Serbia is not under attack, but that Russia is attacking Ukraine and that they asked for an explanation because it was strange that at the end of the week at the UN Serbia signed a contract with Russia.

Asked to explain the position that no one should sign anything with Russia now, Hill said that people should understand that this is not about Serbia, but about Russia and the behavior of Russia, which is committing war crimes in Ukraine and has gone beyond the borders acceptable to anyone.

“The question is why sign something with them now, Russia should focus on getting out of Ukraine and begging for forgiveness from the rest of us,” Hill said.

When asked whether there is room for the country to remain neutral and whether Serbia has the right to conduct its own foreign policy, Hill pointed out that Serbia has the right to conduct its own foreign policy, but that the US has the right to clearly say what they think about certain decisions and that in this case Russia is behaving in a terrible way and no one should stand by and say that it is okay for one country to do something like that to another.

Asked for comment on Serbia’s refusal to recognise referendums in four regions in Ukraine controlled by Russian forces, Hill said, “Serbia is right, it should not recognise these referendums, because they have not been properly implemented, these are referendums under a gun, with threats of bayonets to people.”/Fonet, Danas/

https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/ambasador-hil-o-planu-konsultacija-beograda-i-moskve-tu-nema-nista-posebno-ali-rusija-zeli-da-opravda-rat/?fbclid=IwAR3d207IeNFCpK2bJSbAg3lllrakwiKMF4_ggsLWgWDgeQmij-CJqVA587A