Russian State Duma Official: Moscow Appreciates Vucic’s Courage To Withstand Pressure from the West  

Belgrade Cars Drive Support Russia (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Alexander Babakov, the deputy chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, has said that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic “has been demonstrating great courage when resisting colossal pressure of the West which wants to force Belgrade into joining the sanctions on Moscow.”

“We are aware of that and we appreciate that. We understand that the Serbian president is ready to pay such a high price not for Russia’s ‘spasibo’ (thank you), but for his personal belief that the state must conduct its sovereign policy and that such policy simply has no alternative. It is because Aleksandar Vucic is aware that true sovereignty is costly and can be lost easily,” Babakov told the May 24 issue of Belgrade daily Politika.

According to Babakov, it is most important that Vucic’s position enjoys absolute support of Serbia’s citizens, who do not accept any sort of pressure and “have personally experienced all ‘the charms” of a life under sanctions.” Speaking about international sanctions imposed on the FR Yugoslavia in 1992, Babakov said that “Russia, which was at the time under enormous influence of the U.S., failed to oppose the imposition of sanctions.”