Vucic: I’ve Told Putin I Wouldn’t Attend BRICS Summit even if I Didn’t Have Scheduled Meetings 

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said he will not be attending BRICS Summit in Russia, adding he has told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that he would not show up for the event even if did not have meetings with European leaders earlier scheduled at the time of the Summit, because it would be interpreted as Serbia’s derailing of its EU path. 

Speaking to Serbian state public broadcaster RTS in the evening on Oct. 21, Vucic said that the BRICS Summit would be hosted by Russia’s Kazan Oct. 22 to 24, while he would be welcoming Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Belgrade on Oct. 23, adding that he would not be attending the Summit even if this visit had not been agreed earlier. 

Vucic also said that together with Tusk, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis would arrive in Belgrade, followed by European Commission President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, who would visit Belgrade “on Thursday or Friday.” 

The Serbian president also said that in Slovakia on Oct. 22, he would be meeting with Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers, Viktor Orban and Robert Fico, respectively. 

Vucic confirmed that Serbia would be represented at the Summit in Kazan by a four-member high-level delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin and comprising three ministers Bratislav Gasic, Adrijana Mesarovic and Nenad Popovic.