Serbian President Vucic turns his back on Moscow and signs anti-Russian resolution

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and leaders of other Southeastern European countries signed a declaration condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine. The document was adopted on October 9 at the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0

The declaration consists of 14 paragraphs. In addition to Vucic, the document was signed by:

• Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic,
• President of unrecognized Kosovo Vjosa Osmani,
• Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic,
• Slovenian President Natasa Pirc-Musar,
• Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama,
• Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Boryana Kristo,
• interim Prime Minister of Bulgaria Dmitar Glavchev,
• Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis,
• North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristian Mickoski,
• Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Mihail Popšoi,
• Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita-Teodora Odobescu,
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan,
• and European Commission Vice President Dubravka Šujca.

The declaration condemns Russia's "unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal aggression against Ukraine." Moscow's actions constitute a crime against the Ukrainian people, a gross violation of international law and a serious threat to peace.

The declaration speaks of the need to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine and states that the referenda that took place in March and September 2024 shall be considered invalid. It also says that Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions should be brought back under the control of Kyiv.

Journalists from Croatia asked Serbian President Vucic how he perceived the point about the introduction of sanctions against Moscow.

"I have to disappoint you: this point was amended and it does not say that countries are obliged — they are called upon to agree with EU measures," the Serbian leader said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

"We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine (…), but at the same time we will do without sanctions against the Russian Federation, this is the policy of the Republic of Serbia," Aleksandar Vucic added.

In addition, the point on the comprehensive assistance to Kyiv was changed as well. The document does not contain "military assistance" term. It was also decided to soften the wording on the issue of Crimea.

Earlier, it was reported that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic did not congratulate his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on his birthday for the first time in eight years.

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Aleksandar Vučić is a Serbian politician serving as the president of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as the president of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, first deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2014, and prime minister of Serbia from 2014 to 2017. Born in Belgrade, Vučić graduated as a lawyer from the Faculty of Law of University of Belgrade. Vučić began his political career in 1993, as a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS) in the National Assembly of Serbia. In 1995, he became the secretary-general of SRS. He was appointed minister of information in 1998 in the government of Mirko Marjanović. During his tenure as minister, which lasted until the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, Vučić introduced restrictive measures against journalists and banned foreign TV networks. After 2000, he was one of the most prominent figures in the Serbian opposition. Together with Tomislav Nikolić, Vučić left SRS and co-founded SNS in 2008, initially serving as its deputy president. SNS became the largest party in the 2012 election and SNS soon formed a government with the Socialist Party of Serbia. Vučić was appointed first deputy prime minister and elected president of SNS.