PM defends Aleppo aid decision: "We sent blankets, not guns"

PM defends Aleppo aid decision: "We sent blankets, not guns"

"However, I think what we did today in Kikinda is very important and what we will do in Krusevac tomorrow even more so."

Asked to comment on President Tomislav Nikolic's statement that "no candidate can threaten his reelection" if he decides to run again in 2017, Vucic said Nikolic "did his job well during the past four years."

"When we decide on our candidate we will try to, in those 25 to 30 days, stand against some other people that I see have already won. We will try, but since they are the absolute favorites, then our chances are small. Be that as it may, we will in the meantime do our Constitution-prescribed jobs," he remarked.

Speaking about his government's decision to send aid to Aleppo, Syria, Vucic said that sending blankets, sugar, and medications does not mean that his country has taken sides.

"I have not been under any kind of pressure because of it," the prime minister told reporters who asked whether he had been "exposed to pressure and criticism," and continued:

"I have not faced much of any kind of pressure, but even if I were to face pressure that would change nothing, because Serbia is a sovereign country."

Vucic then remarked that this question was asked "only by B92 journalists, and two other small TV stations," while he said he observed "no polemics on this subject anywhere."

The prime minister proceeded to "explain the essence of the question," which he said was "whether we have sided with those supported by Russians, or by Americans, because of the blankets, sugar, and medications that we sent in Russian planes."

The government, he specified, is doing only what is in the interest of Serbia, and this time it is "to show our humane face."

"We have not sent tanks, guns, and let's not hear lectures from those who have been, on the other side, holding their barrels pointed at anyone in any country in the world, because we are not pointing our barrels," said Vucic, adding that the country's internal and foreign policy is "his job, not that of Russians or Americans."

"If there is any objection to that position and to the sending of the humanitarian aid I would like to hear it. This way - Serbs like to dabble in high politics and take side, anyway," said the prime minister, and added:

"I don't like it, I like to open new plants like this one."

Asked "what was happening" with the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center in Nis, southern Serbia, Vucic said the real question was probably "whether they (the Russian staff) have received diplomatic immunity," and then replied:

"They have not, and when there are changes, if there are changes... you will be informed."