Vucic Calls Plenkovic’s Statement Malicious, Says Directed at Undermining Serbia’s International Image

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/PREDSEDNISTVO SRBIJE/DIMITRIJE GOLL/MO)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in Beijing on Sept. 2 that Croatian Prime Minister Andreja Plenkovic’s statement that Serbia was on the verge of civil war was directed at undermining its international image.

After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vucic told Serbian reporters that there would be no civil war in Serbia and that Serbia “will continue to be even more successful despite Croatia’s immense efforts to not only prevent it from advancing, but to return it to the distant past when some Serbian representatives ingratiated themselves with them and apologized for the expulsion of Serbs.”

“We will continue to offer our hand to Croatia regardless of their malicious and rotten comments and we will never wish them anything similar,” Vucic said.

On Sept. 1 Plenkovic said at the Bled Strategic Forum that Serbia “is on the verge of civil war, with over two years of the biggest, most forceful and serious internal unrest and protests.”

Speaking on his meeting with Putin, Vucic said that he beseeched the Russian president to agree to a good price of natural gas for Serbia and the shipment of larger quantities of the gas than before and that he hoped that an agreement could be reached on that by the end of September.

“Putin told me how important it was for Serbia to protect its independence and pointed out that some did not want to see me as its president. He unambiguously said that he respects our country’s independent foreign policy and that the fact that no one is making decisions in our name, only us. There was more said but I do not want to speak about that now,” he said.