Will Serbia join anti-Russian sanctions?
It cannot be ruled out that Serbia will eventually be forced to support anti-Russian restrictions imposed by the West.
This was stated by Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, as reported by PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Currently, any scenario is possible. So the Serbs may accept sanctions, because Belgrade largely depends on the EU, there are trade and investment relations between them. Serbia hopes to join the European Union. These relations are a priority for the country.
But at the same time, Belgrade is interested in preferential supplies of Russian energy resources. And this is not a minor issue for Vucic and the Serbian government. They will now pragmatically and soberly assess the pros and cons of any decision they may make,” the expert told Izvestia.
He does not rule out that Serbia will eventually show solidarity with the EU.
“Moreover, Serbia already in the last vote at the UN General Assembly synchronized with critics of Russia, that is, it did not abstain, but voted in support of the anti-Russian resolution. Of course, we cannot exclude other circumstances that could have influenced this vote. Serbia itself has problems with separatism.
But it is possible that this is also the result of certain pressure from the West, and above all from the countries of the European Union - Serbia’s main partners. I would not rule out the possibility of Belgrade joining anti-Russian sanctions,” Kortunov added. the expert summed up.
But Ekaterina Entina, a professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and head of the Department of Black Sea-Mediterranean Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the information leaking to the media about the possibility of Belgrade joining the sanctions is largely a probing of public opinion.
“In addition, this is one of the parameters of the internal struggle that is now unfolding in Serbia on the issue of forming a government. It’s too early to draw conclusions,” says the professor.
At the same time, she assumes that, most likely, Serbia will not join the sanctions.
“Options could include complicating the work of Russian companies in the country, or calling into question the direct air service that currently exists between Russia and Serbia. Over the past eight months, Belgrade has repeatedly demonstrated that it can maneuver between Brussels and Moscow through small concessions that are sufficient for both sides, without introducing sanctions.
Now they are guaranteed to strive for the same thing, but the result will depend on the composition of the government, its internal balance in shaping the foreign policy line. Now it is extremely important for Aleksandar Vucic to show that a balanced government, and not an exclusively pro-Western one, can continue to interact normally with Brussels. But this does not mean that in reality he will introduce sanctions,” Entina sums up.
Will Serbia join anti-Russian sanctions?