Serbia reaffirms its refusal to join EU’s 'anti-Russian hysteria’

Reaffirming his country's strong ties with Russia, Serbia’s interior minister on Monday highlighted Belgrade’s refusal to join Western sanctions against Moscow, after meeting with the top Russian diplomat in a rare visit by a state official from Europe.

Alexander Vulin emphasized his government’s opposition to the European “anti-Russian hysteria” and told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that “Serbia is the only state in Europe that didn’t introduce sanctions and was not part of the anti-Russian hysteria”.

Serbia has long been drifting away from the European Union, inclining toward Russia, with Vulin being considered “Moscow’s man” within the Serbian government.

Vulin, who is known for his anti-Western stance, believes his government should abandon its EU membership goal and seek closer ties with Moscow.

In a statement released after his meeting with Lavrov, Vulin expressed gratitude for Russia's refusal to recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

"Serbia will never forget the help of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, at the invitation of (Serbian) President (Aleksandar) Vucic, prevented the adoption of a British resolution in the United Nations in 2015 that would have declared the Serbs a genocidal nation," said Vulin.

Lavrov, according to the statement, reaffirmed his country's commitment to continue to support Serbia in preserving its territorial integrity.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, with many Western powers including the US, UK, France, and Germany recognizing it as an autonomous country. Serbia, however, maintains that Kosovo is part of its territory.

Back in June, Lavrov’s plan to visit Belgrade failed after Serbia’s NATO-member neighbors refused to allow his plane to fly over their country’s zone.

Vulin said in a statement from Moscow on Monday that he “deeply regrets” that Lavrov was prevented from visiting Belgrade, pointing out that “by banning Minister Lavrov’s official visit to Serbia, all principles of international law were violated”.

Serbian president: West fighting world war against Russia via Ukrainians

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Twitter suspends accounts of Serbian embassies

Serbian official’s visit to Moscow coincided with the suspension of Twitter accounts of seven Serbian embassies and a consulate in the US, according to the Serbian foreign ministry.

Serbia has called on Twitter to unblock the accounts, describing the move as “unacceptable”.

“Without getting into Twitter’s business policies, we note that it’s unacceptable to censor diplomatic offices of a democratic state that has not been sanctioned in any way,” said Belgrade.

According to the Serbian foreign ministry, the embassies in Armenia, Ghana, Iran, Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe had their accounts “suspended” on August 18, “without any explanation or prior notice of a possible violation of the social network’s rules.”

“It is absurd that a series of our diplomatic and consular offices were censored on a social network that boasts of promoting democracy and diversity of opinion,” Belgrade said.

The foreign ministry also said that it hopes the ban is “not part of an attempt to thwart or silence Serbia in its struggle for the truth,” in particular about the situation in Kosovo.

The development comes in the wake of the suspension of sixteen individuals, including 13 MPs from the ruling Progressive Party, without explanation last week.

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