BELGRADE, October 6. /TASS/. Serbia stands in solidarity with Russia, as 80% of the country’s residents oppose sanctions on Moscow, Slavenko Terzic, ex-Serbian Ambassador to Russia (2013-2019), told TASS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the October 5 plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club that the Serbs weren’t the people to be subdued by Western countries.

"I would like to say from my experience that President Putin is a very well-prepared and serious statesman. He is well acquainted not only with the history of his own people but also with the history of Europe and the world. He also knows the history of the Balkans well," Terzic, who is also a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and has a PhD in history, pointed out. "I would like to say that Russia’s current support is a continuation of its consistent support for Serbia and the Serbian people, which is over a century long. You know, the Serbian people are well aware of that and recent surveys show that about 80% of the Serbs oppose any sanctions on Russia," he added.

"I believe that Russia will remain a reliable ally of Serbia and the Serbian people in the future," Terzic concluded.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Serbia, Sergey Lavrov and Ivica Dacic, met on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in September, highlighting the two countries’ determination to boost strategic partnership. In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the parties had reaffirmed their similar approaches to resolving the Kosovo issue based on international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1244.