Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said yesterday that Serbia is open to making the decision to impose sanctions on Russia providing the Serbian economy and citizens begin to suffer irreparable damage for the country refusing to impose sanctions.
„Since the decision (of the National Security Council) is still in force, it means that that is not the case as yet,“ Dacic told Kurir daily, adding that it is in Serbia’s best interest not to impose sanctions on Russia, but that the government will monitor how that decision affects the Serbian economy.
According to him, apart from the pressure on Serbia for rejecting to impose sanctions, the external trade between the two countries has also decreased, while „in some Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, it has increased.“
Commenting on the statements of Economy Minister Rade Basta, a member of the Jedinstvena Srbija party, which is in coalition with Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia, that Serbia should introduce sanctions against Russia, Dacic reiterated that his party and all their government members stand behind the decision of the Council for National Security and State Policy.
„As long as our decision and our policy regarding sanctions are in force, we will consistently adhere to it“, he said.
However, following the media quoting Dacic on the possibility of Serbia imposing sanctions, the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, invited Dacic for a meeting today, at 2 pm, which is due to take place on the premises of the Serbian Foreign Ministry.
(Novi Magazin, Nova.rs, 27.03.2023)
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