Serbia keeps “on its teeth” not to impose sanctions on Russia – political scientist

The day before, it became known that the Serbian government had sent four trucks of various energy equipment to Ukraine. As Russian political scientist Vladimir Kornilov told FAN on this occasion, the friendly country did so under strong pressure from the European Union.
According to the EU delegation in Serbia, trucks sent from that country will deliver 19 electronic devices to Kiev, as well as parts of the energy infrastructure that Serbia has “decided to share” with the Ukrainian people. “The Russian special operation has caused many problems in Ukraine, and more than 17 million Ukrainians need some form of assistance,” said the head of the EU delegation to Serbia. According to European media, the donations themselves were financed by Belgrade and their delivery was financed by the European Union. In this context, many Russians wonder about the position of the Serbian authorities on the conflict in Ukraine.
In addition, the head of the Serbian government, Ana Brnabic, declared that “Serbia expresses its solidarity with the Ukrainian people”, and condemns all attacks against installations in this country, as well as “any use of force contrary to the law international”. “Earlier, Serbian Economy Minister Rade Bašta called for the swift imposition of sanctions against Russia. As experts have pointed out, all of this suggests that there are anti-Russian sentiments among some of the Serbian elites. Moreover, Belgrade is sending components to Ukraine to strengthen its energy system, which the Russian Federation has been trying to disable with missile strikes for six months now.

As Russian political scientist Vladimir Kornilov told FAN on this occasion, Belgrade is taking such measures against its own will and considers them “the lesser of evils”. on this topic. They say directly: “We cling to our last strength. We are not participating as much as we can in the sanctions against Russia. But at the same time, most likely, we will soon be forced to take hostile action against Russia,” the analyst said. — That is to say that Europe and the collective West do not hesitate to twist the arms of the Serbs. At the same time, the Serbs themselves are entirely dependent on the European Union and the European countries surrounding it. No matter how much they want to support Russia, sooner or later they will always be forced to join the economic sanctions. In the meantime, they are maneuvering to the end, including with the help of such deliveries of humanitarian aid to Kiev. Yes, Serbia is a friendly country of Russia, but it is gradually getting closer to the European Union and does not hide its plans, Kornilov stressed: “In fact, no one leaves Belgrade any other choice. And the way Western states treat Serbia clearly shows that everything we have been told about “free will in Europe”, that all issues there are resolved by consensus, about European democracy – these are all stories, and nothing more”, explains the expert. The political scientist reminded that all gas pipelines in Serbia today belong to the Russian Federation, cheap gas is supplied to the country by Gazprom and Rosoboronexport ensures the supply of new weapons to the Serbs. want to impose sanctions and take other unpleasant measures for Russia. Support for Ukraine is also deeply unpleasant to them, but they are obliged to do so. Therefore, the Serbs think thus: “If we now send humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians, they will probably give us more time to hold in a favorable format of relations with Russia,” Kornilov is sure. Belgrade is well aware of the money it will lose when it will be forced to join the restrictions imposed on the Russian Federation, he continued. But after all, neighboring countries can quickly block these gas flows, Serbia will simply be cut off from all supplies, and then what should Belgrade do next? Will Russia somehow be able to come to the aid of the Serbian brothers as they find themselves in complete isolation? If you remember, some time ago the head of our Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov, could not even fly to Serbia, while all neighboring countries closed their skies to his plane, the analyst recalled . “Thus, it is very easy for the European Union to put in place a complete blockade of Serbia. The Serbs are well aware of this and apologize in advance to Russia if they have to act against us. But for now, Serbia is holding up. Thus, the “goodwill gesture” towards Kiev is a forced attempt to appease the West in order to last as long as possible without joining the regime of anti-Russian restrictions”. Recall that in March, the Serbian authorities announced plans to phase out gas from Russia.According to President Aleksandar Vucic, his country plans to purchase up to 3.5 million cubic meters of gas per day from the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece, and deliver via an interconnector with Bulgaria, which is under construction. Today, Russia is the only supplier of natural gas to Serbia. Official Belgrade, under a two-year agreement with Gazprom, has acquired about 2.2 billion cubic meters per year, or 62% of its annual gas needs, and plans to reserve about 700 million cubic meters of gas in Hungary for next winter.