The Slovenian foreign ministry summoned Serbian Ambassador to Slovenia Zorana Vlatković over statements that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic made during Slovenian President Borut Pahor’s visit to Belgrade last weekend.
“We have notified the Serbian side that we are very surprised about President Vucic’s statements,” the foreign ministry said on Monday.
The statement in question was Vucic’s remark after talks with Pahor on Saturday when he was asked about whether Serbia will join EU sanctions against Russia.
“How should I explain to our citizens that we are introducing sanctions against Russia, which has not violated Serbia’s territorial integrity, but not against Slovenia, which did,” Vucic said in reference to Slovenia having recognised Kosovo’s independence.
The ministry “expressed the expectation that Serbia will not problematise our position on Kosovo in the future since Slovenia’s support for Kosovo is not directed against Serbia.”
It also reiterated Slovenia’s “determined opposition against equating Slovenia’s recognition of Kosovo with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
Pahor was in Serbia in advance of the 12 September summit of the Brdo-Brijuni initiative, a platform initiated by Slovenia and Croatia dedicated to accelerating the accession of Western Balkans countries to the EU.
