President Aleksandar Vucic stated on Sunday that Serbia will not impose sanctions on the Russian Federation and that the country will continue to pursue a principled policy.
“We pursue our own policy, and it is based on principles, not on whether we like something or whether something suits us at one moment or another… We will continue with our policy, which has been principled and has so far proven to be correct, a policy that no one liked, neither those in the West nor those in the East, but that is liked by the citizens of Serbia, because it is the policy of an independent and sovereign state of Serbia,” Vucic said during a visit to the new Center for Palliative Care of the University Clinical Center of Serbia, in Batajnica.
He was responding to a journalist’s question to comment on a statement made by Minister of European Integration Nemanja Starovic to Austrian media, claiming that Serbia will allegedly be ready to impose sanctions on Russia once it becomes a European Union (EU) member.
“Minister Starovic spoke somewhat differently, certainly spoke carelessly, but he did speak differently. I’m sorry that some of our friends in the Russian media are so quick to find something to reproach Serbia for, and I’m sorry that we have many people on the domestic political scene who are quicker to jump to defend the Russians than they would ever jump to defend Serbia. I must disappoint them all, Serbia will not impose sanctions on the Russian Federation,” Vucic said.
He stated that since July 31st of this year, Serbia has not exported “a single bullet” anywhere, adding that this now poses a difficulty for Serbian defense industry factories.
“We will very much take care to ensure that no one can accuse us of having in any way further encouraged armed conflicts, although this will represent serious difficulties for us, and we will face challenges with paying wages, with paying salaries to our workers,” Vucic said.
He emphasized that Serbia will not allow other major players to use it for their games and reiterated that there will be no sanctions against Russia.
“Our policy remains – there will be no sanctions. When I say there will be none, it’s not because one man decided it, but because I still believe that the majority of ministers want to hear my position on that matter, and that the majority in the National Assembly want to hear my position as well. My position hasn’t changed, so our policy remains,” Vucic concluded.
