Vucic continues to nurture partnerships with Russia and China

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Aleksandar Bocan Kharchenko just two weeks after he was re-elected President of Serbia. One of the main topics was the development of Serbian-Russian bilateral relations.

Although there are increasing calls from the West and the European Union for Serbia to harmonize its policy with theirs, and there are increasing calls for Serbia to impose sanctions on Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, this did not happen. Vucic in the meeting with Bocan Kharchenko confirmed his unchanging position regarding Russia, not leaving aside China.

After Bocan Kharchenko congratulated Vucic on his re-election, thanking him for the congratulations, Vucic said Serbia would continue to maintain traditional friendships and partnerships with Russia and China.

According to the Serbian Presidency, Vucic briefed Bocan Kharchenko on the current situation in the Western Balkans and stressed “the unwavering determination of the Serbian state leadership to maintain peace and stability in the region through its actions.”

Also, one of the topics of the meetings of the two allied leaders was the energy sphere, with the expectation that talks on the quantities, prices and other conditions of gas supply, which is one of the most important issues for Serbia, will start soon. Thus, Russia will continue to supply gas at lower prices, which is why Serbia has not yet imposed sanctions on Russia, like most of the countries.

Just days before Serbia voted to expel Moscow from the UN Human Rights Council, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, leaving room for doubt that the conversation was decisive. Serbia should harmonize its voice with the countries that are against Russian aggression, in order to have in some way the trust of the EU member states and the West, which is in favor of Russia, where it can exercise its influence through Serbia.

In the meeting with Bocan Kharchenko, the topic was not Serbia’s vote to exclude Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Also, after the presidential elections in Serbia, he said that he believes that the victory of Aleksandar Vucic in the elections is largely conditioned by his position on the issue of developing relations with Russia.

On April 17, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told TV Pink that foreign services from the two countries’ territories were participating in false reports of bombings on Serbian planes to Moscow, and that one was a European Union country and the other was Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has categorically rejected the baseless accusations of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, for the participation of Ukraine in the false reports of bombs on civil flights to Russia, which were carried out by the Serbian airline, the spokesman of the Ministry Oleg Nikolenko said.

He also expressed dissatisfaction that Serbia has not yet joined the European Union sanctions against Russia due to unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.