Making concessions to the West is a slippery slope, President Aleksandar Vucic claims
If Belgrade caves in to EU pressure and imposes sanctions on Russia, it would then be forced to recognize Kosovo as an independent state, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said. He expressed disappointment with the lack of progress regarding EU integration during an interview with TV Pink last week.
Serbia has cooperated with Brussels’ requests, including by handing over people suspected of various crimes committed during the Balkan wars, but has not received much in return, the president claimed.
“We handed over [former Yugoslav leader Slobodan] Milosevic, regardless of what we thought about him. Why did we have to give up the president? Did we become an EU member after it?” he asked.
Vucic also brought up the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Dindic, who is believed to have been targeted because of his cooperation with international prosecutors. Vucic said he was not sure that this murder was purely a domestic affair. Dindic was shot in 2003 by a former Yugoslav special forces sniper.
Serbia has repeatedly done what was asked of it, but the promises of European integration have proven to be “false,” Vucic said. That is why it has been rejecting Brussels’ calls for anti-Russia sanctions for over 100 days, he added.
“If we impose sanctions now, we’d be told that now is the time to settle on Kosovo,” Vucic said.