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Diplomat warns West seeking to present Balkans as sphere of its exclusive interests

A view of the Russian Foreign Ministry Artyom Korotayev/TASS

A view of the Russian Foreign Ministry

© Artyom Korotayev/TASS

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Serbian ambassador calls for more Russian ‘soft power’ in the Balkans

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. The West is seeking to present the Balkans as a sphere of its exclusive interests, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov told the Dubrovnik-2017 forum.

"As for foreign players’ approaches to the situation in the region, we have to note with regret recurrent attempts to present the Balkans as a sphere of the Wests exclusive interests," he said. "Countries of Southeastern Europe are dragged into an artificial choice" either further integration with the European Union or cooperation with Russia."

According to Meshkov, Moscow thinks it to be basically wrong, as many countries "maintain mutually beneficial relations with both the European Union and with Russia." "There are examples of constructive cooperation with us among the European Union member states as well," he pointed out.

"In this context, we support the recent tendency to enlivening Russian-EU political contacts," the Russian diplomat stressed. "We are set to discuss with the European Union those topics where our approaches are close, including regional conflicts, migration and counter-terrorism problems.".

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