Serbian president keeps close to Putin

Serbian president keeps close to Putin

In his address, Nikolic said that Serbia, as a country that also suffered greatly in wars, understands the suffering of Armenians.

In his speech, Putin warned of the dangers of nationalism and Russophobia.

"There can be no justification for the mass murder of people. We mourn today together with the Armenian nation," the Russian leader said. French President Francois Hollande was also present. "We will never forget the tragedy that your people went through," he told the commemoration.

While in Yerevan today, Nikolic had separate meeting with both Putin and Hollande, and with presidents of Armenia and Cyprus.

It was reported on Friday that Nikolic and Hollande discussed "Serbia's progress on the road of European integrations."

They "agreed that Serbia took important and brave steps toward reforms and was decisively moving along the path of full-fledged EU membership." Nikoli also "stressed that the EU could now, as a sign of good will, soon open first (membership negotiations) chapters, in order to encourage Serbia for everything it has done so far."

Nikolic also met in Putin - this was their sixth encounter - in what was described as "a long and cordial conversation" during which they considered "the progress of joint projects."

Nikolic and Putin spoke about future cooperation between Serbian and Russian companies, and the upcoming joint marking of Victory Day in Moscow.