Serbian president advises West "not to play with Russia"

Serbian president advises West "not to play with Russia"

Commenting on Putin's upcoming address to the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, Nikolic said: "I think this session will be a key event and many in the West will realize that by playing games with Russia, with its perception of values and its pride, they are, in fact, playing games with dozens, even millions of people, and ultimately with peace and security on the entire planet."

Speaking about his meeting with Putin during the recent visit to China, Nikolic said that he and the Russian president use every opportunity, as was the case during the Victory Day parade in Moscow and the opening of the European Games in Azerbaijan, to discuss current and future cooperation, the manner in which Serbia and Russia will remain "a synonym for unity."

"When you mention Serbia, you can put Russia next to it right away, and vice versa," Nikolic added.

He said he thanked President Putin for his country's vote in the UN Security Council vetoing a resolution "that would have inscribed the crime committed in Srebrenica into the history of humankind as a synonym for genocide."

"Thus, all the other wonderful peoples who were victims of genocide would simply be pushed into the background," said the Serbian president.

"President Putin responded to me with just two words: 'A friend - to a friend'," revealed Nikolic.

He added that during this conversation they also touched on Nikolic's upcoming visit to Moscow.

"I said that I could adapt to a date that suits him, and he said - 'whenever you wish'," said Nikolic.

The president also said that while he was visiting Moscow earlier, he "gently advised Putin" to attend future UN General Assembly meetings, adding he expects the upcoming session to be "historic."

Nikolic said the reason he thought Putin should go to UN General Assembly was that he was at the time "already sick of hearing all these attacks on Russia that started last September."

"Already then Russia was labeled as Nazi Germany, Putin was compared to Hitler, even from a pulpit of the UN General Assembly. I told him, 'Mr. President, I think you are wrong not to go there to respond to it all.' He said: 'No, I do not go there'," Nikolic recounted.

But last week, when they met at celebrations to mark victory over fascism in Beijing, continued Nikolic, Putin told him he will this year take part in the UN General Assembly - "which will in my opinion be a historic session, as was the one when Khrushchev allegedly took off his shoe and banged it on the table, saying that no one should humiliate Russia because it is a great country."

Speaking about his visit to China Nikolic said ti showed the level of current relations between Serbia and China, based on many years of friendship, cooperation, and a strategic agreement "that China values and respects more than Serbia itself."

"They know how to appreciate that we sent members of the Guard to the military parade, as they invited representatives of those states they believe have made many sacrifices in the Second World War, which they consider to have been attacked, and that have definitely been crucial at the end of the war in favor of the Allies and crushed Hitler," Nikolic added.

The president of Serbia also commented on the migrant crisis to say that "migrants have become a Serbian problem, without being a Serbian problem."

"They did not set out from Africa because of us. We did not take either their resources nor riches, we did not bomb them, we were not the ones destroying their entire order, we didn't bring down oil prices... We really have, with all those peoples and nations, historically excellent relations. The shared the same torment, They were richer than us."

When asked whether he thought "these riches are the cause of wars in the world," Nikolic said this was "possible," citing these countries' "riches under the ground and their lack of readiness to understand it could be destroyed, " and continued:

"It seems to me that Iran realized this sooner. For that reason it prepared some kind of threat to prevented them from destroying it completely. As Syria also acquired good defense systems in time, no one dares to launch a military intervention against it - it is instead tortured through support and assistance to those who are now a global problem. "

Speaking about refugees, Nikolic said: "Why should we suffer the consequences, when 90 percent of them want (to go to) only four countries in Europe? And these countries in their museums have both dinosaurs and mammoths. Those were not excavated in the territory of these countries, as we had found a dinosaur in Kostolac. No, they pillaged all that, they liked it, they killed for it. And the people are moving after their riches."

According to Nikolic, it would be better if western countries "built factories" in the countries refugees come from, as that would prompt them to stay there. "This way they will find a way to settle in Europe. Serbia is not what they desire, because if they stayed in Serbia they would not fulfill the purposes for which they set out," Nikolic said.

"This is a problem we cannot solve, we will have big problems, but we will make an effort that the conditions (for refugees) in Serbia are not inhumane. I heard that these people say, when they cross over a mountain between Bulgaria and Serbia, 'Just don't send us back to Bulgaria!' If that's the way they react, who knows what's happening to them there, in that democratic country, an EU member," said Nikolic.