Serbia has yet to comment on the war in Ukraine. During the day of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, President Aleksandar Vučić was expected to comment on the matter, but made no statement.
The media reported that Vučić is in the process of consulting with world leaders, and preparing a paper which will define its positions and its policy.
On February 24, Vučić held meetings with the ambassadors of the Quint and the chief of the EU Delegation to Serbia “about a number of issues.” The conclusions of these talks will be published soon, according to a brief statement issued by the President’s press office.
In the evening of February 23, Vučić stated that he would “present the complete position on the Ukrainian crisis in the next 48 hours.”
“Our stance will be based on full respect for international law, absolutely principled and will not differ from what we thought and said in 2000, in 2015 and nowadays,” he said.
A session of the National Security Council was also held on February 24, to discuss Russia’s conflict with Ukraine and the situation in the region. A new session of the National Security Council is scheduled for February 25.
Meanwhile, leader of the oppositional Social Democratic Party of Serbia and former Serbian President Boris Tadić said on February 24 that Russia had committed aggression against Ukraine.
Tadić told state TV RTS that Serbia could not support its recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk because this was contrary to its interests because of Kosovo and Metohija.
“If we condemned the invasion of Serbia, we cannot support this recognition now. We must have a balanced policy,” he said, adding that a big problem would be created when the EU started pressuring Serbia to impose sanctions against Russia.
From Prishtina, a Kosovo-based expert in security issues, Ramadan Qehaja, has said that Serbia might use the West’s current focus on Ukraine to transfer military forces to the north of Kosovo and thus create favorable conditions for future negotiations, for the purpose of a division of Kosovo.
