Aleksandar Vucic, Vladimir Putin (Photo: Presidency of Serbia / Dimitrije Goll)
Aleksandar Vucic, the outgoing Serbian president and the head of the election list gathered around the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, wished Russian President Vladimir Putin a happy birthday on Oct. 5, saying he deeply appreciates Putin’s recent words of support to him, as well as the support Moscow has been providing to Serbia and its interests in international organizations.
“We are particularly grateful for your longstanding understanding of Serbia’s need for a stable and reliable gas supply on favorable terms,” Vucic, the head of the election ticked United Serbia and Progressives’ informal candidate for prime minister in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 25, wrote in his greeting.
In the birthday greeting, which he published on Instagram, Vucic also said he hopes that he and Putin will continue to strengthen relations between Serbia and Russia, “based on mutual respect, understanding and the traditional friendship” between the two peoples, and that they will “through joint efforts contribute to further strengthening cooperation in areas of mutual interest.”
“Your Excellency, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, please accept my heartfelt wishes on your birthday, along with my best wishes for good health, personal happiness and success in carrying out your responsible duties as a statesman,” Vucic said in his birthday greeting to Putin, who will turn 74 on Oct. 7.
Vucic signed the greeting only with a printed first and last name and a handwritten signature.
Last week, speaking at a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club, Putin expressed hope that Vucic, who resigned as Serbian president on Sept. 27, will become prime minister following the Oct. 25 elections.
“Serbia’s current leadership, the outgoing president and, in the future, I hope, prime minister Aleksandar Vucic pursues a restrained policy and demonstrates a desire for cooperation with Russia. We certainly welcome this and will respond in kind,” Putin said on Oct. 1.
A day before announcing his resignation, Vucic said he and Putin had an hour-long telephone conversation discussing a new gas agreement, the future of oil and gas company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), cooperation between Belgrade and Moscow, bilateral relations, the war in Ukraine, and the situation in the Balkans. Several days later, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom extended its gas arrangement with Serbia for another three months, through the end of the year. According to Dusan Bajatovic, the director of state-owned natural gas provider Srbijagas, the arrangement was renewed on the same terms.
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