All news

Serbian premier’s visit to Russia to boost bilateral relations

“The Serb nation knows about it and believes that Russia is the biggest friend,” - Ivica Dacic said

MOSCOW, April 10 (Itar-Tass) - Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic’s visit to Russia is destined to give a new impetus to bilateral relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

“I’m confident your visit will give a good impact to the promotion of our economic ties,” he said at a meeting with Dacic.

Putin complained over a certain reduction of bilateral trade last year. “But our trade grew 38% again at the beginning of this year and that’s a good sign,” he said.

He asked Dacic to convey best wishes to Serbia’s President, who he spoke over the phone recently with.

“Please convey our invitation to him to visit Russia at any time he may find convenient,” Putin said

Dacic thanked the Russian leadership for the principled support Moscow gives to Belgrade with regard to the breakaway province of Kosovo, the independence of which was proclaimed by the ethnic Albanian majority drawing on support from the U.S. and other member-states of NATO.

“The Serb nation knows about it and believes that Russia is the biggest friend,” he said.

Dacic spoke in favor of consolidating Serbian-Russian cooperation in all the area and especially in politics, the economy, defense, and security. Serbia needs this particularly in the current situation of full encirclement by NATO member-states, which is heavily constraining from the geo-strategic angle of view.

Attending the talks were Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov and the CEO of the natural gas producer OAO Gazprom, Alexei Miller.