His words follow presidential polls in Serbia which gave the country's incumbent pro-European President Boris Tadic a narrow victory over pro-Moscow nationalist Tomislav Nikolic. Russia backs Belgrade's desire to see the breakaway southern province of Kosovo remain a part of Serbia.
The European Union announced after the polls that it was now seeking to speed up Belgrade's progress towards EU membership.
"Russia is also our main economic partner. Our political priority is to join the European Union, but I can see no discrepancy between maintaining relations with Russia as our traditional partner and our path towards the EU," Jeremic told Slovak newspaper SME.
However, the minister said he did not rule out that Serbia could revise its relations with EU countries that acknowledge any future declaration of independence by Kosovo.
"Imagine that part of Slovakia declares independence and some country acknowledges this. Wouldn't Slovakia review its relations with this country?" Jeremic said.
He also reiterated Serbia's position that any declaration of sovereignty by Kosovo, something the Albanian-dominated province has pledged to do within weeks, would be illegal.
"This would run counter to Serbia's constitution and UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo. If this happens, Serbia will have no other choice than to defend its Constitution using all available political and economic means," the minister said.
"Force might be used under certain conditions but we have endured too many wars. The incumbent government will not resort to force," he added.
Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since 1999, when a NATO bombing of Belgrade ended a bloody war between ethnic Albanian and Serb forces.
