"Anti-Russian hysteria in West; Serbia under huge pressure"

"Anti-Russian hysteria in West; Serbia under huge pressure"

"Evidently there is big anti-Russian hysteria in Western countries and everything is interpreted as having to do with a big Russian influence in our region. They (the West) think the influence is harmful", he told reporters.

TASS cited the report to say that Dacic stated the U.S. "calls the idea of granting an official status to the center an 'anti-American act'."

"We experience huge pressure from the West regarding these two issues (the center’s existence, and status), thus we have to face this question very seriously. American announces openly it would be translated as an anti-American act. However, my position is this issue must be settled either way, we should either work on this or close the center," he said.

"We can see clearly the anti-Russian hysteria in the Western countries, and the existence of the Russian center is considered to be a proof Russia has a big influence on our region. They call this influence harmful. I tell them, we have a different impression that harmful has been the influence from others, from the other side, not from the East, at least, when we are speaking about the Serbian people," Dacic was quoted as saying.id.

Dacic was in Moscow on Friday as co-chair of the Serbian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee, chaired on the Russian side by Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin.
Before his meeting with Rogozin, the Serbian official spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who he later announced would visit Belgrade in February.

Russia and Serbia are ready to develop cooperation in innovation and the use of space, Rogozin said after meeting with Dacic, Beta reported citing TASS.

"The agreement is to boost cooperation in new, promising areas, including the localization of Russian industrial production in Serbia and the affirmation of Russian high-tech products in the Serbian market. More specifically, these will include the production of civilian aircraft, technology, innovation and the use of useful space," Rogozin said, and "explained that by 'useful space' he meant Russia's satellite-based services."

He also said that Russia and Serbia were discussing opportunities to act together in third markets.

"We intend to continue our work in the committee, focused on tackling assignments for the Balkans to solidify the status and role of the Russian-Serbian center in Nis," Rogozin said.

Dacic said the upcoming 180th anniversary of the Russian-Serbian diplomatic relations was another reason to deepen cooperation, and added that Serbia "believe its relations with Russia are a priority."

Priorities in cooperation exist in the areas of technology, energy and agriculture, TASS quoted him as saying.

The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the 16th session of the committee to take place in Novi Sad, Serbia, in December.