Ukrainian Ambassador: Talk with Vucic Reasonable, No Reason for Serbs to Fight in War against Ukraine

Oleksandar Valeriovič Litvinenko (BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

Newly appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia Oleksandr Valeriiovych Lytvynenko said on Feb. 18 that he had discussed issues of shared interest with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic when he presented his letter of credence, and described the talk as interesting, stable and reasonable.

In an interview with the Danas daily, Lytvynenko said it had been a sensible talk and that he was very grateful for that, specifying that it had touched not just on economic matters, but also on information and culture, too. He went on to say that Serbia and Ukraine had had strong cultural ties since the 17th and 18th centuries at least, and that one of the most important tasks of his ambassadorship was to show Serbian society the Ukrainian experience of the world.

He went on to specify that this would involve developing a Ukrainian informational presence in Serbia and sharing Ukrainian views to allow Serbian society access to the Ukrainian outlook -- "how Ukraine sees the situation, how Ukraine views it, how we think about it."

Speaking about people from Serbia going off to fight on the Russian side as volunteers or mercenaries, he said it was not a large-scale problem and included perhaps dozens of people, adding that he did not believe the Serbian government sent its own people. I can't understand the reasons why Serbs would fight in the war in Ukraine, he said, adding that as it was not a Serbian war, Serbs should not take part and that no money was worth one's life. "Too many people are dying. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying," he said.