Vucic: Serbia already under Pressure To Impose Sanctions against Russia  

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/EV)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that pressure has already been exerted on Serbia to impose sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, adding he is expecting pressure to increase.

Vucic also said that he was not pressured over this matter during the Feb. 21 meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, noting that the Western Balkans matters were on the table. Speaking to TV Pink, Vucic said that Russia’s decision to recognize independence of Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, would changing the overall world structure.  

Vucic expressed concerns over the situation in Russia and Ukraine, stressing that Serbia’s position was rather uncomfortable. Everything that had happened on Feb. 21 had posed numerous challenges to Serbia, including economic, political and many other, he stressed.

Vucic noted that during ten years in power he had been under various types of pressure, including the Brussels Agreement and “other discomforts,” but what he had experienced over the last three days was indicating serious pressure was yet to be exerted and that “it will not be easy for Serbia.”

He also said that media outlets in Serbia were “inflamed,” with 80 percent siding with Russia and the remaining 20 percent being “antagonistic towards Russia.” “We have been harming ourselves instead of trying to stay composed and squeeze through the world crisis without a scratch,” Vucic noted.