Vulin: Exclusion of Russia from International Organizations Would Be "Harmful and Fatal"

Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin ,Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the SecurityCouncil of Russia, Moscow, Sept.13 2021(BETAPHOTO/MUP SRBIJE/MO)

Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said in Moscow on Aug. 23 that the exclusion of Russia from international organizations, especially organizations like Interpol, would be "damaging and fatal," and would leave room for the strengthening of crime, the Interior Ministry has said in a statement.

During a meeting with Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Vulin thanked Russia for respecting Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty and stressed that under Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's leadership Serbia was a safe and reliable partner.

Patrushev said that Russia valued Serbia as "a reliable friend and partner in the international arena," the statement said.

Commenting on a statement by the European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilcik that "one member of the outgoing Serbian cabinet (Vulin) has just visited Moscow and made strong anti-European statements," the Serbian interior minister said that "Russia has not asked Serbia to recognize the false state of Kosovo, nor renounce Republika Srpska, nor impose sanctions against anyone, which cannot be said for the EU."

"My messages are not anti-European, the messages that ask Serbia to refrain from prosecuting war criminals, murderers of Serbian children, in exchange for growing nearer to membership in the EU or acknowledge the false state of Kosovo and impose sanctions against Russia, often through history Serbia's only consistent ally, are anti-European," Vulin said.