Serbia refuses to levy sanctions on Russia; 'Will never be part of anti Russian hysteria'

Serbia holds presidential, early general and Belgrade elections on April 3. Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin promised the Russian ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko that Belgrade would never join what he described as an anti-Russian hysteria and added that Serbia "led by (President) Aleksandar Vucic is the only European country that has not imposed sanctions on Moscow." Serbia will never be part of the anti-Russian hysteria in which the Russian citizens’ property and the property of the Russian Federation is stolen; it will not ban the Russian media, nor will it expel Russian children from schools and delete Russian writers and scientists from school textbooks,“ Vulin told Bocan-Harchenko, as quoted by the Interior Ministry press release. He added that „a civilization that would remove Russian writers, scientists, freedom fighters, a civilization that would give up everything that the Russian people have given to the world, would be very poor. Those who would like to delete Dostoevsky have never read that the world is not worth a single child’s tear, and that is why they can call for the murder of Russian children.“ „Serbia will never forget that in 2015, after an agreement between two presidents Vladimir Putin and Aleksandar Vucic, Russia prevented a resolution in the UN Security Council declaring Serbia’s people the first genocidal nation in the history of the world,“ Vulin said in the meeting with Botsan-Kharchenko, Vulin added he was confident that the cooperation between the two countries would develop for mutual benefit and thanked the ambassador for Russia's consistent support of Serbia's integrity of Serbia. https://eudebates.tv/ #eudebates Ivica Dacic, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) candidate for prime minister, said on Monday his country should lead "a balanced" foreign policy which would take care of its relations with Russia, but at the same time continue along its road to the European Union. Speaking to the pro-regime Happy TV, Dacic, the leader of the SPS, the key coalition partner of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the outgoing Parliament Speaker, said Belgrade „should not overemphasise its role in every crisis.“ „We have neither provoked the war nor can we stop it,“ he said.