“Moscow and Belgrade in harmony: Russian media on the “Balkan knot”

The Geopost analysis on Russian media

Serbia is independent in conducting its own policy and the decision to join sanctions against Russia cannot be imposed from outside, writes Russia’s TASS, quoting a statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic after the Brdo-Brijuni process summit in Skopje.

“As far as sanctions are concerned, we decide on sanctions ourselves as a sovereign state and that is why we differ from Pristina. Not only on the subject of Russia, Ukraine or I don’t know what else, but the question is who is a sovereign state and who is not and never will be,” Vucic stressed, commenting on statements by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti that Serbia and Russia cannot separate from each other without a whip, TASS reported.

According to Russian media reports, Vucic wondered how some people think they have the right to ask third parties to do something against a sovereign state, especially when you violate the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of the country.

TASS also recalls that on 28th August Vucic met with the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, when he stressed that Belgrade was counting on a harmonious development of relations with Moscow.

“Moskovskii Komsomolets” writes that the West does not allow Serbia to buy arms anywhere, not even from the East. This media outlet refers to a statement by Vucic, who at the weekend complained that Serbia was finding it difficult to overcome its problems with weapons.

“When we want to buy weapons and equipment from the East, we cannot do it”, Vucic said. He explained: “Because these westerners won’t let us”.

Vucic continued, “And when we want to buy weapons and equipment in the West, we can’t, because they ask – what do you want with these weapons and equipment?”

The President of Serbia, it will be recalled, stated in early July that Belgrade was ready to completely stop the export of all arms and ammunition in order to ensure the security of the country’s national interests.

Svobodnaa Pressa, in an article entitled Balkan knot: Belgrade at the crossroads between the European Union and Moscow and Beijing, writes that the Serbs are tired of standing on the doorstep of the EU and are ready to turn to the BRICS. They quote a statement on the aspirations for BRICS membership by Milorad Dodik, President of the BiH entity Republika Srpska, and a recent initiative by the Socialist Movement of Aleksandar Vulin, leader of Serbia’s BIA, which was forwarded to the Serbian Parliament.

Polina Sokolova, a researcher at the Department of European Political Studies of the Primakov Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out to this Russian media outlet that it is true that official statements on the position towards BRICS have already been made in Serbia, although the President and the Prime Minister have not yet spoken publicly about it. Asked whether she thought that Vucic shared the position of Vulin’s Socialist Movement, Sokolova replied in the affirmative.

“This fits in with Serbia’s central multi-vector policy, which they are still trying to pursue, both in the 20th century and now, at a time of confrontation between Russia and the West, when they continue economic and humanitarian cooperation with Russia without joining the BRICS – an organisation that is actually an alternative to Euro-Atlantic institutions – or obtaining observer status,” she says.

Asked whether Bosnia and Herzegovina will support Dodik’s idea of joining BRICS as a whole, Sokolova says: “I don’t think so. The political situation in Bosnia is very difficult. I think it will be very difficult to reach a political consensus, and the Croatian and Bosnian representatives, in the current situation of fierce confrontation between the West and Russia, are naturally betting on a quick integration into the Euro-Atlantic institutions – NATO and the EU.This is their main policy, and any rapprochement with the BRICS is contrary to this”.

In the context of the future of Serbia’s European integration, Russia Today writes, referring to Vucic’s statement that Serbia is not expected to join the EU any time soon.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said he does not expect the country to join the European Union in 2026-2028. “We will not be admitted in 2026, 2027 or 2028,” he said, RT reports.