MOSCOW, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - Serbia is not afraid that its refusal to impose sanctions against Russia will delay its accession to the European Union, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said Saturday.
“Europe will certainly try harder to make Serbia impose sanctions against Russia. And perhaps such an attempt will be made in the nearest future, because Europe insists on the common foreign policy part of the agreement on our accession to the European Union,” Nikolic said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 broadcaster.
“In fact, Europe has no common foreign policy on any matter. An example is the recognition of Kosovo and Metohija. If there is a common foreign policy, how did it happen that a part of the EU member states did not recognize the independence of Kosovo and Metohija? These are Slovakia, Romania, Spain, Greece, Cyprus. And that is much more serious than imposing sanctions against one state. Hence, if there are exceptions, these should be for everyone, including Serbia,” the president added.
Nikolic noted that he is not afraid of delaying Serbia’s entrance into the European Union with his policy. “When we decided to negotiate with the European Union, we were not talking about imposing sanctions against Russia,” he stressed.
The president also explained how the current Serbian policy towards Russia and the EU is different from the one carried out by Ukraine a year ago. “A part of Ukraine wanted to be with the European Union, another part wished to be with Russia. Serbia is not divided on this issue. It wants to be with both Russia and the European Union. And this should be granted by both Russia and the European Union,” Nikolic concluded.
The EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia’s largest banks, energy and defense companies, as well as certain individuals, over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. Serbia has refused to back these measures.
Last week, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic stated that “the Serbian leadership has made it clear that it will never join sanctions against Russia”.
