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Russia has never put pressure on Serbia, never will — ambassador

Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko stressed that the price for this fuel for Belgrade remains the lowest in Europe

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

BELGRADE, December 5. /TASS/. Russia has never exerted any kind of pressure on Serbia and it maintains a friendly dialogue with it at the highest level, Russia’s ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, said on Monday.

Earlier, Botsan-Kharchenko warned of what he described as "deplorable socio-economic consequences of the European elites’ short-sighted policies: from rising prices and energy shortages to the actual de-industrialization of Europe," which led a number of Serbian opposition media to draw erroneous conclusions about pressure on Serbia.

"Russia has never resorted to putting pressure on Serbia and it does not intend to do so. <...> We share a strong mutually beneficial strategic partnership, a friendly and confidential dialogue at the highest level with Belgrade. For this reason, we simply have no right not to call things by their proper names and not to warn what the implementation of an openly unfriendly initiative of Serbia joining the illegitimate unilateral EU sanctions would result in," the Russian embassy’s press-service quotes Botsan-Kharchenko as saying.

Earlier, in an interview with the Tanjug news agency, the ambassador said that Russia was open to negotiations, if Serbia needed extra amounts of Russian gas in the winter. He stressed that the price for this fuel for Belgrade remains the lowest in Europe. After the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, in an address to the nation following a meeting of the Security Council, said that Serbia supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but would not impose sanctions on Russia. Vucic said that Belgrade was temporarily stopping army and police exercises with all foreign partners. He noted that Serbia considered Russia and Ukraine as fraternal states, regretted what was happening in eastern Europe, and was ready to provide humanitarian assistance to Kiev.

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Foreign policy Serbia

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