The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, affirmed that his country will not follow the West in its intentions to apply restrictive measures against Moscow, as this will endanger national interests.
Interviewed by the Financial Times, Vucic assured that Belgrade will not take sides despite calls from the European Union to side against Russia in the sanctions.
“They talk about choosing sides, but we have our own interests, those of Serbia; we were bombed in 1999 by 19 countries of NATO and they imposed sanctions on us,” the Serbian president recalled.
In his opinion, the country will not impose restrictions against anyone, as he does not believe in their effectiveness, despite the pressure exerted by Western countries on Serbia.
Vucic emphasized that Belgrade has no alternative to Russia’s natural gas and recalled that the long-term agreement on the supply of hydrocarbons from Russia ends next month and his government wants to sign a new long-term contract.
“Before diversifying our gas supply sources, we must do this, we must survive, we must live,” the president asserted.
Following an agreement between the two nations, the Russian company Gazprom began supplying gas to Serbia on January 1st through a new route.
The gas is transported from Russia through the Turkish Stream offshore pipeline, then through Bulgaria’s national gas transmission system into Serbia.
Prensa Latina
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