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Serbian PM assures Russia that US media misinterpreted her words on choosing EU

According to Bloomberg, Serbia’s new prime minister said that if Serbia was forced to choose between closer ties with Russia and joining the European Union, it would side with the latter

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic

© AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has assured Russia’s ambassador that her words on the country’s alleged choice for the European Union were misinterpreted by US media, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

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Serbian president confident EU accession will not aggravate relations with Russia

"Russia’s ambassador to Belgrade deliberately met with Brnabic in order to specify what she had said indeed," the diplomat said. "The Serbian prime minister said her words had been misinterpreted by the US news agency and handed over a full transcript of her interview with Bloomberg, which had no words attributed to her. We judge by these explanations," Zakharova said.

According to Bloomberg, Serbia’s new prime minister said in the interview released on July 4 that if Serbia was forced to choose between closer ties with Russia and joining the European Union, it would side with the latter. When asked if Belgrade would further refuse to introduce sanctions against Moscow, Brnabic noted she couldn’t promise that.

Brnabic earlier ruled out that Serbia would introduce anti-Russian sanctions and called for friendly relations with Russia.

The politician had been proposed for the post by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who asked her to enhance relations with the European Union, Russia, China and the United States. During his visit to Brussels on Monday, Vucic requested a quick accession of Serbia to the EU for the first time since the negotiations on the European integration started.

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Foreign policy Maria Zakharova

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