The West has not given up on pressuring Serbia to impose sanctions on Russia, according to the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic. However, he stated that Belgrade has so far managed to withstand the strain.
On Monday, Vucic told Serbia’s Happy TV channel that “whoever comes [to Belgrade feels their] first obligation is to explain to me that I am a jerk who did not introduce sanctions.”
The Serbian president said that he had grown accustomed to frequent “pressure [and] ultimatums” from Western politicians.
The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee chastised Serbia last month for failing to join EU sanctions on Russia, and urged Belgrade to shut down Russian “disinformation” channels such as RT Balkans.
The US State Department has also called for the media station, which began broadcasting in November 2022, to be shut down.
President Vucic underlined in mid-March that his government’s “position is not to impose sanctions” on Moscow for its activities in Ukraine. He stated unequivocally that this could only be modified in “circumstances when there is no way out.”
His remark came in reaction to calls made earlier that month on social media by the country’s Economy Minister Rade Basta. Belgrade, according to Basta, should impose punitive measures since Western pressure was becoming untenable.
For his remarks, the minister was quickly chastised within his own party.
Serbia has rejected EU and US pressure to censure Russia, noting, among other things, the seeming contradiction between Western demands that Belgrade recognise Kosovo’s independence and their simultaneous insistence on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
