Serbia Refutes Reports of Russia Pressing for Humanitarian Staff's Immunity

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in an interview with Sputnik refuted media reports that Moscow had been allegedly exerting pressure on Belgrade to sign an agreement to provide diplomatic immunity to the personnel of a humanitarian center in the southern Serbian city of Nis.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Nikolic stressed that he had always signed any agreements with the Serbian government being fully informed.

"There isn’t any pressure. I've seen in several newspapers such headlines as ‘Nikolic and [Foreign Minister Ivica] Dacic are working behind Prime Minister [Aleksandar] Vucic’s back to ensure that the agreement is signed.’ Nobody is working behind anyone's back, especially since everyone has their own powers under the Constitution," Nikolic said.

The Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center was set up on the basis of a cooperation agreement between the Russian and Serbian governments on April 25, 2012.

It is tasked with tackling emergency situations, including firefighting, providing humanitarian assistance to people affected by disasters, implementing joint projects and programs, training programs on emergency situation prevention, testing and demonstrating rescue technologies, according to the organization’s website.

The center’s employees have carried out а wide range of operations to provide humanitarian assistance and combat emergency situations in Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Slovenia.