Vucic: West Wants Serbia to Recognize Kosovo’s Independence and Puppet Regime in Belgrade

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on March 2 that the West expected Serbia to recognize Kosovo’s independence, de facto or de jure, introduce sanctions against Russia and have “a puppet regime” in Belgrade, adding that, for that reason, the pressures on Serbia would increase.

“The underlying message is that we should also give up Republika Srpska, introduce sanctions against Russia and take an anti-Chinese stance,” Vucic said in his speech at the Presidency of Serbia. The president also said that Serbia was an independent country, but that it was not very fashionable in today’s Europe, which wanted “a puppet regime like the one that ruled until 2012” in Belgrade.

Vucic also said that Pristina would not reverse its decision to ban the use of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo, and that Serbia would have to find a way to pay salaries and pensions to the Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija. The Serbian president cited international pressure as well, without referring to any specific source, saying that “they” wanted a puppet government in Serbia, which, as puppeteers, they would be able to manipulate.

As he said, Serbia was continuously being demonized over ostensible autocratic tendencies, its elections had been declared undemocratic without proof, and the status of the Serbian media community criticized as allegedly poor.