The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, expressed his willingness to strengthen cooperation with Russia in 2023, after making a positive assessment of bilateral relations during the year now ending.
In a meeting with the Russian ambassador in Belgrade, Aleksandar Botsan-Kharchenko, the Serbian president expressed the “desire that Serbian-Russian relations, as well as the friendship between the two peoples, continue to strengthen,” the Serbian Presidency said on Saturday. in a statement posted on its website.
After thanking the Russian diplomat for Putin’s message wishing him a good New Year and a Merry Orthodox Christmas (which is celebrated on January 7), Aleksandar Vucic expressed “the hope that peace and prosperity will return to all of Europe,” adds the Note, I don’t mention if the Serbian president made any mention of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belgrade media reported on Friday, citing the Kremlin’s official website, that Russian President Putin congratulated Vucic and stressed that Russian-Serbian relations “continued to progressively develop on the principles of strategic cooperation” in 2022.
The two countries strengthened “practical cooperation in the commercial, economic, cultural and humanitarian areas”, having also deepened “the political dialogue based on mutual trust and the coordination of efforts in international and regional affairs, which was especially significant given the current and complicated geopolitical situation. ”, Putin said in his message to Vucic, according to Serbian public television RTS.
Serbia maintains strong friendly relations with Russia.
Belgrade has so far refused to adhere to the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine, despite Vucic reiterating that his government’s top priority is to bring the country closer to Brussels, to ensure that one day Serbia can join as a full member.
Source: Observadora
