The EU criticizes Serbia for the announced meeting of Vulin with Putin

The European Union (EU) has warned Serbia that maintaining ties with Moscow during the Russian aggression against Ukraine is not in line with the bloc's values, nor with its membership process.

This reaction of Brussels comes after a planned meeting of the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), which is held from September 3 to 6 in Vladivostok, Russia.

"The European Union has been very clear with our partners: relations with Russia cannot be normal after Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine," the EU told Radio Free Europe (REL) on September 3.

The EU "wants to count on all candidate countries as reliable European partners for shared principles, values, security and prosperity".

Putin's cabinet said the Russian president will meet with Vul on September 4. Also, Putin will meet with the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Vice President of China on the same day.

Responding to REL's question about Vulin's meeting with Putin, Serbian Prime Minister Milosh Vucevic said that he saw the announcement of that meeting in the media.

He said that "it is nothing epochal and not so terrible" that Vulin will meet Putin in Russia.

"We have not severed diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation, it is not forbidden for anyone to meet with representatives of the Russian Federation," added Vucevic during a tour in Novi Pazar, in southwestern Serbia.

Vucevic emphasized that Serbia does not encourage the war in Ukraine and does not support the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"We voted for all the resolutions that confirm Ukrainian integrity, but we do not renounce our friendship with the Russian Federation, we did not impose sanctions, nor did we expel the ambassador. On the contrary, we have normal communication", he emphasized.

He also recalled that the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, as the leader of a member state of the European Union and NATO, was recently in Moscow and met with Putin.

"If Orban is allowed, of course Vulin can also meet. I don't see any difference or other approach," said the Prime Minister of Serbia.

"We will not apologize for our policy and justify it. We can explain our policy," Vucevic concluded. 

Since taking the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia in May, Vulin has visited Russia twice.

He has continued to maintain close ties with the Kremlin even after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. During his visits to Moscow, he repeatedly emphasizes that Serbia will not impose sanctions on the Kremlin.

Vulin – the former director of the Security and Information Agency (BIA) is under sanctions by the United States, among other things, because of his ties to Russia.

Serbia is one of the few European countries that has not imposed sanctions on Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine, for which it has been criticized by Brussels, which intends to join it in the future./REL