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Serbia won’t consider imposing sanctions on Russia, Vucic insists

The Serbian leader also noted that Serbia considers Russia and Ukraine to be fraternal nations, and regrets what is happening in Eastern Europe, and is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to Kiev

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

BELGRADE, August 29. /TASS/. Serbia isn’t is planning to change its policy course regarding sanctions on Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday, when asked whether Belgrade could reconsider its stance and introduce restrictions against the Russian Federation.

"As far as the sanctions are concerned, we expressed our position almost 190 days ago through a decision by the Security Council. These decisions have been in place for six months and Serbia has been demonstrating its seriousness. You never know what may happen one day, but we are demonstrating our seriousness and resolve, and our convictions. This is our policy, and right now we aren’t thinking about changing our policy. I think the policies that we have pursued so far have been proven to be wise [ones], despite all the difficulties that we have had to endure," Vucic explained.

The Serbian leader said all the pressure that his country has been experiencing in the past six months over the issue of sanctions on Russia could serve as a script for a book or an action movie. "I could write a book about this that would be thicker than Marx's Das Kapital. We will stick to our policy," the president vowed.

The European Parliament by a majority of votes earlier adopted a resolution demanding that Serbia join the EU sanctions against Russia, as well as sign an agreement with Kosovo, which hasn’t been recognized as an independent country, to develop relations based on mutual recognition.

In an address to the nation following a meeting of the Security Council, Vucic said that Serbia supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but will not impose sanctions on Russia. The president said that the Balkan country will suspend military and police exercises with all foreign partners. He said that Serbia considers Russia and Ukraine to be fraternal nations, and regrets what is happening in Eastern Europe, and is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to Kiev. In a speech at the Globsec forum in Bratislava, Vucic said that 77% of Serbs oppose sanctions against Russia.

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