BELGRADE, December 2. /TASS/. Evading anti-Russian sanctions through Serbia is impossible, the Serbian authorities hold the perpetrators accountable for such attempts, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference after a meeting with European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi.
"As for alignment of Serbian foreign policy and the policy of the European Union, I informed him (Oliver Varhelyi - TASS) that no one can circumvent sanctions [against Russia] through the territory of Serbia, because we are not engaged in crime, we are not engaged in making money during the war. We don't need super profits, we have a fairly strong economy. Therefore, we reacted when it came to the re-export of certain goods and our responsible authorities participated in bringing to justice persons from companies that worked to circumvent the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation," Vucic said.
The delegations of Serbia and the EU, in the presence of Vucic and Varhelyi signed several agreements on investments in the Serbian economy. The Serbian leader recalled that Brussels would allocate 160 million euros in aid to Belgrade to fight the energy crisis by the end of the year. The delegations also discussed investments in Serbian infrastructure projects.
On Friday, the European Commission approved a proposal to include violations and circumvention of EU sanctions against Russia in the list of EU criminal offenses, according to which individuals who violate restrictive measures can be sentenced to 5 years in prison, and legal entities can be punished with a fine of 5% of the total company turnover per year. The proposal of the European Commission must now be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, after which it will enter into force.