Prime Minister in Tokyo: Serbia Not Neutral about War in Ukraine, Condemned Aggression Already

Fumio Kishida, Ana Brnabic/PHOTO: Kiyoshi Ota

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Sept. 28 that during a meeting with Japanese authorities in Tokyo she explained Serbia’s decision not to impose sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, underlining that her country wasn’t neutral about it, but that it had condemned the aggression already.

Brnabic said that Japanese politicians were not exerting any pressure like their European counterparts did, but were interested in having the Serbian position clarified. “We are not neutral about it, our position is completely clear – we have joined the U.N. resolutions and the EU declaration to condemn the aggression against Ukraine, and the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that Serbia will not recognize the results of referendums in Ukraine in the regions controlled by Russia. The only difference is that we haven’t introduced sanctions against Russia, and we don’t want to, for which we have offered well-reasoned arguments,” Brnabic explained to Serbian journalists in Tokyo.

The prime minister also said that it’s important to explain the Serbian position to the Government of Japan, because investments depended on its recommendations. “I hope that here, in Japan, our position will be clarified, and that it will have no negative effects on new Japanese investments. I am coming back quite optimistic about having some good news in the months to come, and during 2023,” Brnabic went on to say during the interview with the Serbian media in the Japanese capital.