PM once again rejects possibility of joining sanctions

PM once again rejects possibility of joining sanctions

“Serbia wants to join the European Union, but it has a tradition of good relations with the Russian Federation and it will not impose sanctions on Russia because of the Ukrainian crisis,” said Vučić.

“No one tells Serbia how to behave. Serbia acts in accordance with the interests of its people,” stressed Vučić, adding that as the prime minister he answered "only to the citizens of Serbia."

On Friday Serbia's Ambassador to Moscow Slavenko Terzić said that Belgrade would never impose sanctions against Russia, adding that the Serbian authorities "have a clear and precise position" on this issue.

The recent statement by European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn that Serbia had to join the EU sanctions against Russia has been the major news of Russian electronic media, the Beta news agency reported, quoting Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Aleksei Pushkov, who said the EU was blackmailing Serbia.

Serbia's chief negotiator with the EU Tanja Miščević said on Saturday that the country has aligned "62 percent" of its policy with that of the EU, stressing that Belgrade possessed "quality arguments" for not imposing sanctions against Russia.