Russia’s Kommersant: Vucic Between Two Diplomatic Fires

Aleksandar Vucic (Photo: Beta/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Pressures have spiked after Serbia’s presidential and parliamentary elections to force Belgrade to join international sanctions against Russia, and for the first time since the crisis in Ukraine broke out, Moscow, too, has voiced discontent, the Russian Kommersant daily wrote on April 18.

The article “Serbia attacked from all sides – the West and Russia equally displeased with Belgrade” says that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, caught in the crossfire of two diplomacies, might make a few steps forward to meet the West halfway, but that he will hardly turn his back on Russia.

The pressures on Belgrade have been spearheaded by Germany, believed to be Serbia’s key partner in the European Union (EU), the newspaper argues, adding that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in his last week’s letter to Vucic that it was of vital importance that Serbia should align its foreign policy with the Union’s, especially the policy on Russia, including sanctions.

Kommersant has agreed that analysts who had predicted growing US and EU pressures after the Serbian polls were over were right. The paper says that “a new and awkward moment for Vucic, trying to sit on two chairs,” was that Moscow, too, said it was not happy with his strategy. The paper has quoted a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova, who said that Moscow couldn’t understand statesmen who pursued an independent, well-balanced policy, while complaining about unseen pressures from the West and accepting compromises.