BELGRADE, August 20. /TASS/. Belgrade’s refusal to join sanctions on Russia is one of the key reasons behind intensified external pressure on Serbia, Milos Vucevic, the Balkan nation’s former prime minister and leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, said in exclusive comments to TASS.

"Serbia is paying a high price for pursuing a sovereign policy, not abandoning Kosovo and Metohija, providing assistance to Republika Srpska (one of the two constituent entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and refusing to impose sanctions against Russia," the politician emphasized.

He pointed out that "Serbia is the only country in Europe (except Belarus), which has not joined restrictions on Moscow." "Undoubtedly, this is one of the key reasons why we have been under such heavy pressure all this time," Vucevic noted.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stressed earlier that Belgrade had no plans to impose sanctions on Russia and would continue to pursue an independent and principled foreign policy, supported by the country’s people.

The Serbian leader also underscored that mass unrest in the capital Belgrade was part "of an attempt to stage a color revolution, orchestrated and financed from the outside." According to the head of state, over three billion euros had been invested from abroad in opposition movements in order to overthrow him.

After the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an address to the nation that although Belgrade supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity, it would not impose sanctions against Russia. Vucic pointed out that Serbia saw both Russia and Ukraine as its fraternal nations and regretted what was happening in Eastern Europe. The Serbian president also expressed readiness to provide humanitarian assistance to Kiev.