U.S. Official: Question of Sanctions against Russia on the Table Before Serbia

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried (BETAPHOTO/KANCELARIJA ZA SARADNJU SA MEDIJIMA VLADE SRBIJE/SLOBODAN MILJEVIC)

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried has said that Serbia should join the members of the EU and U.S. in condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine and added that the question of sanctions against Russia was on the table before Serbia.
 
"I mean that Serbia should join the members of the EU and U.S. in condemning Russia's actions. The question of sanctions is now undoubtedly on the table in front of Serbia. We support Serbia in its further alignment with the U.S. and EU," the U.S. official said in an interview with the April 28 edition of the Belgrade Politika newspaper.
 
She said that supporting Ukraine in the war was important to the U.S. along with making it known to Russia that it will have to pay the price for what it was doing. "This is our stance, while Serbia must decide on its own what stance it will take where sanctions are concerned," she said. Donfried added that it was important that Serbia had voted against Russia in the U.N. and that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic "is very clear about where he sees Serbia's future and that is in the EU."
 
As for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina she said that the U.S. supported the EU-mediated dialogue as well "as a comprehensive agreement which will result in the normalization of relations with a focus on mutual recognition."