© Alexander Miridonov/Kommersant 2006.
Serbia declared independence, the state Union with Montenegro was finally liquidated
Serbia is interested in EU membership, but will not do so if such a step will lead to the deterioration of relations with Russia. This was stated by Minister of foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on 1 April, reports RIA Novosti.
“We have said: we want to become an EU member (…) But it cannot be at the expense of our good relations with Moscow”, — quotes Agency of his word.
On 20 March it became known that Belgrade is not going to join sanctions campaign against Moscow. In addition, the President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic said that his country is not going to join NATO.
After the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis Serbia was one of the few European countries that have retained friendly relations with Russia. Priority for Belgrade remains the course to join the EU, but the Serbian authorities have repeatedly insisted that they did not intend to refuse from cooperation with Moscow.
