{"id":338741,"date":"2024-02-21T16:56:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T15:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/02\/21\/ue-immobile-serbia-russia-sanzioni-armi\/"},"modified":"2024-02-26T15:57:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T14:57:28","slug":"eu-immobile-in-the-face-of-an-increasingly-ambiguous-serbia-with-russia-from-sanctions-to-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/02\/21\/eu-immobile-in-the-face-of-an-increasingly-ambiguous-serbia-with-russia-from-sanctions-to-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"EU immobile in the face of an increasingly ambiguous Serbia with Russia, from sanctions to weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013\u00a0Faced with continued evidence of non-alignment by Serbia\u2019s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107<\/strong>\u2014if not outright provocation\u2014to the EU policy on Vladimir Putin\u2019s <\/strong>Russia, the European Union as a whole seems immobile and unable to react. Because if some institutions are able to stand in clear opposition and take even very tough stances (as the EU Parliament recently did<\/a>), others are not even trying to make Belgrade understand that any negative action on the path to EU membership may result in an equal and opposite reaction in Brussels.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Aleksandar<\/a>
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 (credits: Alex Halada\/Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe new momentum of the EU enlargement process offers Serbia and the Western Balkans an opportunity to move forward<\/strong>, while the Growth Plan will accelerate integration. Time to act is now,\u201d is what European Council President Charles Michel<\/strong> wrote in a post<\/a> on X at the end of a phone call with the Serbian leader on \u201cthe way forward on Serbia\u2019s EU path.\u201d Not a particularly vibrant message, which somewhat clashes with the week of political statements and actions under the banner of the historic understanding between Belgrade and Moscow<\/strong>, despite the obstacles of the war in Ukraine to relations between Vu\u010di\u0107 and Putin. Over the past two years, the Serbian president had to find a balance in order not to become the pariah in Europe\u2014embracing total opposition to the EU\u2019s hard line against the Kremlin\u2014but at the same time avoid being forced to sever ties with Moscow by adopting international sanctions.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ursula<\/a>
From left: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Serbia\u2019s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 in Belgrade (Oct. 31, 2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In other words, while the road to EU membership remains open, Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s Serbia is the only EU partner claiming non-alignment <\/strong>to the Common Foreign and Security Policy, especially on sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine, not even in principle. \u201cYou have many friends in all European countries, and all of them have imposed sanctions on Russia.
\nThe small Serbia is the only country that has not imposed any sanctions<\/strong>,\u201d is President Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s message in an interview<\/a> for the Russian news agency Tass<\/em>, peppered with what cannot but be considered a blatant provocation to Brussels: \u201cA true friend is recognized in moments of difficulty<\/strong>, it is in these moments that one shows one\u2019s true face.\u201d While at every international meeting, \u201cthe main topic is sanctions against Russia,\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107 reiterated that \u201cwe will try to defend our position for as long as possible. <\/strong>We have been
\nable to do that for two years already. I don\u2019t know if we will keep
\ndoing that, but I hope for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"Vucic<\/a>
From left: Serbia\u2019s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin in Sochi (Dec. 4, 2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Sanctions on Russia are not the only issue in the relationship between Brussels and Belgrade. Although\u00a0Vu\u010di\u0107 will receive an energy support package from Brussels of 165 million euros (in addition to what is already in the Economic and Investment Plan and possible allocations from the Western Balkans Growth Plan), in May 2022, he signed an understanding with Putin for three years of Russian gas on favourable terms. For the Kremlin, Serbia is a kind of bridgehead in the Western Balkans, so much so that Brussels continues to raise concerns about the possible Russian destabilization of the region after the attack on Ukraine. One of the favoured ways is through disinformation and anti-Western propaganda<\/strong>, which on Serbian territory is made possible by Russia Today<\/em> Balkan<\/em><\/strong>, a broadcaster banned by the European Union but operational in Belgrade since July 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And then there is the issue of the military relationship, which has come up worryingly over the past few days. President Vu\u010di\u0107 himself unveiled last Thursday (Feb. 15) the new addition to the Serbian military\u2019s arsenal, the anti-drone Repellent system purchased from Russia<\/strong>: a mobile system that can destroy swarms of surveillance and attack drones, enabling it to automatically detect and neutralize enemy reconnaissance and kamikaze drones at distances of up to 30 kilometres. Added to this is the 300 million euro investment in domestic industry, particularly artillery systems. Introducing them, Vu\u010di\u0107 delivered another not-unambiguous message: \u201cWe may love drones and helicopters, but it is artillery that wins on the front; we can see it in Ukraine<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Find more insights on the Balkan region in the newsletter BarBalcani<\/b><\/a> hosted by Eunews<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European Council number one Charles Michel reiterates to Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 that “the new momentum of the EU enlargement process” offers new opportunities for Belgrade. But it is the same leader who, speaking of the relationship with Moscow, said that “a true friend is recognized in times of difficulty”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5647,"featured_media":268738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26072,26013,26065,26069,26071],"class_list":["post-338741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-alexandar-vucic-en","tag-russia-serbia-and","tag-inserbia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338741"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339562,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338741\/revisions\/339562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}