Vucic, Foreign Ministry Deny Tensions with Russia

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/Amir Hamzagic)

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have both denied claims made in a July 5 article published by the Nova daily according to which Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko cut his visit to Serbia short following a dissatisfactory meeting with Vucic and that Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently refused multiple calls from his Serbian counterpart.

“Everything [in the article] is a blatant lie,” Vucic said on social media, adding that “Serbia has very good relations with Russia” and that not once did he try to contact Putin during Grushko’s stay in Serbia on July 1 and 2.

The president illustrated his post with Nova’s July 5 front cover, which says Grushko “left Serbia soon after an unsatisfactory meeting with Vucic” at the President’s Office in downtown Belgrade.

The article, which was also published on Nova’s website, states a “top government source” divulged that Russia’s deputy FM canceled the rest of his visit to Belgrade, including multiple engagements, over Vucic’s response to why Serbian weapons are making their way to the Ukrainian front. Allegedly, Vucic said that Serbia cannot control where its arms end up after sales, which was not received well by the Russian diplomat. The source went on to say that Vucic subsequently tried to call Putin three times, but was ignored, “which sends quite a clear message,” Nova reported.

Taking to Facebook and Instagram, Vucic said he wanted “to inform the public that Serbia has very good relations with the Russian Federation” and that not once did he try to speak with Putin. The president added he found it “interesting how those who swear by supposed Western values become the greatest Russophiles in less than a day” when it enables them “to attack Serbia’s government.”

“Whenever President Putin wanted to speak or meet, my answer was always yes, and whenever I expressed the wish to speak with President Putin, his answer was yes,” Vucic wrote, adding that he expects a small apology to the public for this deception.

Claims that Grushko was quick to leave Serbia were further denied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called on the “authors and sponsors of this misinformation, as well as all public actors, to refrain from disseminating false news, which, in such a complex geopolitical moment for Serbia, could harm national interests.”

The Ministry’s statement further said that this “misinformation regarding the nature of relations between the Republic of Serbia and the Russian Federation” was clearly intended to “cause political tensions and divisions in Serbia, to politically harm its state management, led by President Vucic, and to damage Serbia’s reputation in the international community.”