President Aleksandar Vucic is facing \u201cunprecedented\u201d pressure from the West, Dmitry Peskov has said<\/p>\n
Moscow is fully aware\u00a0that the West is pressuring Serbia to antagonize Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said.
\nHis remarks followed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic\u2019s recent expression of willingness to sell weapons to EU member states \u2013 even if they eventually end up in Ukraine.
\nSerbia, which applied to join the EU in 2009 and received candidate status in 2012, is one of the few European countries that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia, citing its historically close ties with Moscow.
\nPeskov stated on Tuesday that\u00a0Russia\u00a0\u201cunderstands what unprecedented pressure is being put on Serbia.\u201d He described the issue of Serbian arms exports as \u201cnot at all a simple story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen issues ultimatum to EU aspirant<\/p>\n
In an interview with Germany\u2019s Cicero magazine last Thursday, Vucic said that Serbia\u2019s \u201cwarehouses are full of ammunition, and we are producing more.\u201d
\n\u201cSo I offered our friends in the EU to conclude a purchase agreement with us and take everything we have,\u201d the Serbian president revealed, adding that he had not yet received a response from the bloc. Asked whether he was concerned the weaponry could end up in Ukraine, he replied that\u00a0\u201cthe buyers can do with it what they want.\u201d
\nEarlier this year, Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)\u00a0stated that Serbian defense firms had been increasing indirect arms shipments to Ukraine via EU member states such as the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
\nIn response, Vucic announced that Belgrade had suspended ammunition exports and would now require special permission for such shipments.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Serbia will hold early elections \u2013 Vucic<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded last month that Serbia show a \u201cgreater level of alignment\u201d with EU positions, including sanctions. Vucic, however, has repeatedly insisted that Serbia would never join the EU in implementing sanctions against Russia.
\nMeanwhile, Serbia has been shaken by a wave of violent anti-government protests over the past year, which Belgrade alleges are being fueled by Western influence. Russia\u2019s SVR also accused Brussels of attempting to stage a Ukraine-style \u201cMaidan coup\u201d in the country by \u201cbrainwashing\u201d\u00a0the youth.
\nUnder growing public pressure, Vucic announced this week that he would call early parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Aleksandar Vucic is facing \u201cunprecedented\u201d pressure from the West, Dmitry Peskov has said Moscow is fully aware\u00a0that the West is pressuring Serbia to antagonize Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t