OSCE chair can't impose sanctions on Russia - FM

OSCE chair can't impose sanctions on Russia - FM

According to him, Russia "never posed a dilemma about why Serbia is going to the EU."

"They think we will not have much luck with it, but do not mind. (Vladimir) Putin told me that it is not possible for Serbia to become a member of the Eurasian Union or BRICS, for geographic and economic reasons. I asked him if Russia was interested in military bases, the answer was negative. So what kind of problem do we have with Russia?" asked Dačić.

He added that Serbia, as the future country chairing the OSCE, will not impose sanctions on Russia.

"The OSCE concerns itself with European security and cooperation and does not impose sanctions. Serbia as a candidate for membership in the EU has an obligation to align its foreign policy with the policy of the Union. Since we are not a member of the EU, this means that we ourselves should be imposing sanctions on Russia, which is not realistic," the minister said.

Commenting on the return of Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Šešelj from detention in The Hague, and on Minister Aleksandar Vulin's statement that this was the result of the U.S. policy toward Serbia, Dačić said there was suspicion that "something other than purely humanitarian reasons" was behind Šešelj's release.

"A dozen times I asked the Hague (Tribunal) to release Šešelj and they never wanted to do that. They kept setting some conditions that he would not accept. Now they released him practically without any conditions and as soon as he came to Serbia, he said that he would not voluntarily surrender. This creates suspicion that there's something else in his departure and return," Dačić said.

Asked about "how current" the idea of a partition of Kosovo was, Dačić said that "the time was missed" for Serbia to submit its vision of a solution to the Kosovo issue, adding that the idea of ​​partitioning the province was "belated".

Dačić reiterated that "Serbia would not be negotiating for membership in the EU today had the Brussels agreement not been signed."

"(Boris) Tadić did not dare sign the Brussels agreement while the SRS and the DSS were the opposition. I dared because I was thinking about the interests of the state and no one can ever characterize me as a traitor because at least I waged war against NATO, " said he.