Serbian President To Maintain Friendship With Russia While Pursuing EU Membership, But Not Joining NATO

President Vladimir Putin with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru/Presidential Press and Information Office)

JAKARTA - Serbia will continue to pursue EU membership and maintain friendship with Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone, according to the press service of the Serbian Presidency.

The statement comes after Vucic won the presidential election again with 59.5 percent of the vote, while last month he announced that Serbia would not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the campaign.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on his convincing victory in the presidential election and on the significant success achieved by the Serbian Progressive Party in the parliamentary elections," read a statement from the press service of the Serbian Presidency.

"He wished President Vucic happiness and success as head of state and prosperity for Serbia in the next five years, reiterating that Serbia and Russia will maintain truly friendly relations.|

"President Vucic thanked him for his congratulations, stating that Serbia will maintain genuine and traditional friendly relations with Russia while pursuing EU membership."

"President Putin also informed President Vucic about developments in Ukraine and the reasons, as Putin said, Russia's special operations in Ukraine. Meanwhile President Vucic reiterated Serbia's position and the conclusions of the National Security Council, which President Putin was well aware of, and expressed hope that the conflict in Ukraine will end in the near future," the statement added.

President Vucic said at a press conference on April 3 that Serbia would remain militarily neutral, also would seek to maintain partnership and friendly relations with Russia.

Earlier, during his campaign in Kikinda last month, he also announced that Serbia would not join NATO, citing bad memories of the alliance in 1999.

"I believe that Serbia should not join NATO. Serbia is a free country and a militarily neutral country. Serbia will defend its own land and sky," Vucic said.

"But let me tell you something: our job is to forgive and our job is not to forget. Don't forget 11-month-old Bojana Tosic, killed in Merdare, near Kursumlija, don't forget little Milica Rakic, killed in Batajnica, and don't forget little Sanja Milenkovic, killed in Varvarin," said Vucic.

"We have no right to forget this. We will be much stronger than we were then, when irresponsible, arrogant, and presumptuous people bombed us and waged a war of aggression against us and our country," Vucic said.

It is known that Serbian foreign policy envisions accession to the European Union while maintaining friendly relations with Moscow and Beijing, as well as developing relations with Washington.

Serbia intends to maintain military neutrality, refusing to join NATO and other blocs. This attitude, however, raises objections in the West.

Serbia has repeatedly received signals that its European integration is only possible under two conditions, if it recognizes Kosovo's independence and ends friendly relations with Russia.