Published: · Region: Eastern Europe · Category: geopolitics

Serbia’s Vučić doubles down on no‑sanctions stance, exposing EU unity strain over Russia

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić defended his refusal to sanction Russia and rejected claims that Kyiv’s outreach means Belgrade has ‘switched sides’. His insistence on neutrality keeps Serbia balancing between Moscow and Brussels — and forces the EU to live with a candidate state that openly defies its Russia policy.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has delivered one of his clearest recent defenses of Belgrade’s refusal to join Western sanctions on Russia, portraying Serbia as a lone advocate for “only peace” and pushing back against suggestions that closer ties with Ukraine signal any break with Moscow. In comments published on 9 August, Vučić said Serbia had no reason to “reproach Ukraine,” which he noted is at war with Russia, but insisted that this did not mean Belgrade would align with Western punitive measures against the Kremlin. “That is why we did not impose sanctions on Russia and why we want peace and we do not want the victory of one side…

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