Nikolic, Putin "agree Serbia should remain neutral"

Nikolic, Putin "agree Serbia should remain neutral"

"You do a great deal to protect and promote Eastern Christian traditions and values. I know it from personal experience - you and I have spoken about it on numerous occasions in private. I would like to congratulate you and thank you for your efforts in this area," Putin told Nikolic as he welcomed him to the Kremlin on Thursday.

The Russian president said that relations between the two countries are developing successfully. "We will talk about it today," Putin said at the beginning of the meeting.

Nikolic thanked Putin for the congratulations, and said that the award was "especially dear to him because it bears the name of (Russian) Patriarch Alexei II, who was in Serbia during the most difficult time for the country."

Nikolic thanked Putin for the time he set aside to receive him today, although, as he said, he came to Moscow for another reason.

"I am personally grateful for what you did for Serbia last year, and in all the past years. You cannot imagine how grateful Serbia feels for your two acts that concern the future of Serbia, but also of the Serb Republic," said Nikolic, explaining that this concerned Russia blocking a resolution on Srebrenica in the UN Security Council and preventing Pristina's bid to join UNESCO.

Speaking about the UN resolution, the Serbian president said it would have accused Serbs as a genocidal nation and confirmed the stereotypes that existed about it, and, in an apparent reference to the First World War, mentioned "the gesture of the Russian emperor who went to war to defend the Serbian brothers."

"I know how difficult it is to use the veto in the UN Security Council, and this move will be remembered in Serbia... I carry this in my heart, I could hardly wait to tell you all this, and thank you for the support that Serbia has in its attempts to stand on its own feet and join developed countries," said Nikolic.

Nikolic also thanked Putin for the understanding shown toward the behavior manifested by Serbia in international relations and for the bravery shown by the Russian Federation in its fight against Islamic State.

According to a Beta agency report, he also stated that "unfortunately, this is not 1999, otherwise (if it was) we would not be talking about the (NATO) bombing of Serbia." The Serbian president added that he "also wanted to say that in front of reporters."

Putin said that the two countries have historically good relations, but that he hopes they would turn to the present.

"I hope that we will now turn to present-day, positive issues on the agenda," Putin said, adding that he and Nikolic will discuss the situation "in the region, and bilateral relations."

Putin also assessed as significant Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's visit to Moscow last fall, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's upcoming visit to Belgrade, which he said he hoped would happen soon.

Neutrality

After the meeting, Nikolic told reporters that he and Putin "completely agreed" Serbia should remain militarily neutral:

"I think we completely agreed that Serbia should maintain a military neutral status. My opinion is that the neutrality can be reached by balancing and making agreements with both military alliances, but not joining either of them, using the advantages of them being technically well ahead of us."

The Serbian president confirmed that he had discussed Sebia's agreement with NATO with the Russian president, Beta agency is reporting. "The situation is not at all alarming, and the positions of Serbia and Russia are not threatened. He understands what has been signed," Nikolic said.

The agreement concerns a part of the technical staff who will be engaged in training for destruction of large amounts of ammunition that are currently stored in a warehouse in a Serbian city, Nikolic said, Tanjug reported.

He also said that an agreement on the status of the Russian humanitarian staff in Nis was "ready," and that "the realization of the agreement will probably have to wait for a new (Serbian) cabinet."