Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met Tuesday in Athens with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said they had “a good and open talk on all issues of importance to both Serbia and Ukraine, as well as to the entire region and world.”
„We addressed the developments in Ukraine and Kosovo and Metohija, and I once again emphasized that Serbia honours Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which we have been saying, clearly and unequivocally, since the beginning of the conflict,” Vucic wrote on Instagram.
Following his meeting with Zelenskyy the Serbian President told a media conference that the Ukrainian President inquired about the situation in Serbia and about the opinion of the people in Serbia.
“I confirmed the fact that Serbia supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and that this will not change, unlike some who want to honour the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but not that of Serbia,” said Vucic.
Zelenskyy described his meeting with Vucic as “open, honest, and fruitful.”
“An open, honest, and fruitful meeting with the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. Good conversation on respect for the UN Charter and the inviolability of borders. On our nations’ shared future in the common European home. On developing our relations, that is in our mutual interest,” Zelenskyy wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The leaders of the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova and EU officials agreed on a declaration in which, among other things, they give “unwavering support” to Ukraine, but also condemn war and other crimes, such as attacks on civilians and destruction of infrastructure. Plus, the declaration contains condemnation of early and subsequent war crimes committed in Ukraine and support for prosecuting all those responsible for such war crimes. As Serbia is one of the signatories of this declaration, it could be considered a novelty in the country’s foreign policy.
Commenting on the declaration, Suzana Grubješić from the Foreign Policy Centre, says that declarations are always made by consensus, and since Serbia is still not keen to impose sanctions against Russia, regardless of sending various kinds of aid to Ukraine so far, noting the unequivocal support for its territorial integrity, the consensus of all the signatories of the declaration was reached without anyone even mentioning sanctions.
Dragoslav Rašeta, from The New Third Way, says that Serbia’s foreign policy won’t change much after the declaration and that the declaration’s content is no different to what Serbia had already agreed to in the United Nations.
(Danas, 22.08.2023)
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