Vucic Says No Pro- Or Anti-Russian 'Hysteria' In Serbia

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2022) There is neither pro-Russian nor anti-Russian hysteria in Serbia, while Belgrade is resisting external pressure by not supporting Western sanctions against Moscow, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Serbian leader awarded the President of the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Ladislav Hamran, with the Order of the Serbian Flag, second class. After the award ceremony, Vucic made press statements mentioning, among other things, the pressure being put on Belgrade concerning anti-Russian sanctions.

"On one side there are those passionately 'rooting' for the Russian side, on the other side there is a completely anti-Russian position; however, we have something much more important. Serbia's position is key. I am proud that there is neither anti-Russian nor anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Serbia, that we are not allowing the monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in (the city of) Novi sad to be destroyed and that we are not removing Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, Gogol (from schools and culture)," Vucic told reporters.

He stressed that many Russians coming to Serbia oppose the Russian leadership, while many Ukrainians stand against the government in Kiev.

"We are the only European country that has not introduced any restrictive measures against Russia.

This causes various problems for us and there is no doubt that we are paying a high price for this. That is all I can tell you now, but sometimes it is good that there is someone who adheres to principles like we do in international politics, where morality and law do not exist," the Serbian leader said.

On April 9, Vucic thanked Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov for understanding that Serbia had voted for Russia's suspension from the UN Human Rights Council under the threat of facing sanctions on oil supplies from the European Union. The April 7 vote at the UN General Assembly passed 93-24 in favor of the suspension, with 58 countries abstaining.

In March, the Serbian government supported 4 of the 13 points of the UN resolution condemning Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. All of those points did not entail the introduction of sanctions against Moscow. Vucic said that Western sanctions are not hurting the interests of Russia or the European Union, but Serbia.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine with the purpose of "demilitarization and denazification" of the country after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces.