MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. 

The US decision to blacklist Aleksandar Vulin, director of Serbia’s Security Information Agency, is yet another attempt to interfere in the domestic affairs of an independent country, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement on Monday.

"Russia’s SVR has taken note of the fact that Aleksandar Vulin, Director of Serbia’s Security Information Agency, has been included in US sanctions lists. We consider this move to be another attempt by Washington to blatantly interfere in the domestic affairs of an independent country and another US act of aggression against the Serbian state," the statement reads.

The SVR pointed out that, "today, anyone who defends national interests and refuses to dance to the US tune automatically falls under their insane sanctions ‘steamroller.’" "Indeed, this could be described as the main rule of the ‘rules-based order’ that the Biden administration is promoting. The freedom-loving Serbian people, who remain true to their history and traditions, just don’t fit in with this deadly world order, which is why they are especially irritating to the White House," the SVR added.

According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, illegal sanctions that violate international law, with which the US seeks to intimidate its geopolitical rivals even as it becomes more and more enfeebled itself, are a sign of weakness and confusion rather than of strength. "They only encourage countries such as Serbia and Russia, as well as political leaders who find themselves on the blacklist, to pursue independent policies with even greater determination," the SVR said, adding: "US ‘restrictions’ have in fact become a kind of 'mark of quality’ for courageous political figures who are oriented toward [the well-being of] their own nations."