Russian Ambassador: Serbia’s Decision against Sanctions on Moscow Is Good Base for Continued Cooperation

Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Institute for International Politics and Economics in Belgrade. September 26 2024(BETAPHOTO/Katarina Sremcevic)

Ambassador of Russia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko stated on Sept. 26 that relations between Belgrade and Moscow were well-based and that Serbia’s decision not to impose sanctions on Russia was a good foundation for continued cooperation.

“Russia has interest in conversing with Serbia for reasons that are known; our peoples are very close. Serbia will remain our partner in any event,” he stated during a lecture at the Institute for International Politics and Economics in Belgrade. He added that Russia stood by Belgrade on the issue of Kosovo and that one of the crisis spots in the region was Republika Srpska where, in his words, (Russia) would protect the Dayton accords.

“We will protect the independence and territorial integrity of Serbia with all our power, like our own country,” he said, adding that the EU’s promise that all problems in the region would be solved when it joins the Union was an illusion, and that the example of Croatia showed that none of the problems had been solved.

At the international level, he assessed, the situation is deteriorating and the international community is “on the verge of a catastrophe, the consequences of which the West refuses to understand.”