U.S. on Serbia's Position on Ukraine: Kyiv and Moscow Are Not Equal, Russia Is the Aggressor

Department of State (Wikipedia)

The U.S. Department of State has welcomed Serbia's call for the crisis between Ukraine and Russia to be solved diplomatically, pointing out that Russia and Ukraine are not the same but rather that Moscow is the aggressor.

Serbian government officials have on several occasions said that Serbia advocates a diplomatic solution to the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stressed that in a recent press release, noting that a potential conflict would have a negative impact on Belgrade's foreign policy "bearing in mind that for us these are two friendly and fraternal Slavic peoples."

The Ministry also said that Serbia was not a part of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

The U.S. welcomes Serbia's call for a diplomatic solution and, as U.S. President Joseph Biden has said, Russia should choose diplomacy to avoid a war between countries that are so historically and culturally close, State Department representatives told Voice of America. The U.S. and NATO, as well as their partners, are putting a lot of effort into finding a diplomatic solution and staying open to constructive and serious diplomacy, they added. 

The officials also pointed out that there was no equality between how Ukraine and Russia were acting and that Russia was the aggressor in that situation.