EU’s von der Leyen snubs Serbian PM over Russia meeting

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has canceled planned talks with Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, citing his previous meeting with a Russian official.

Von der Leyen arrived in Belgrade on Friday as part of a tour of the Balkans. She met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and was supposed to meet Vucevic as well.

“We canceled the meeting with the prime minister after his meeting with the Russian economy minister,” the EU ambassador to Serbia Emmanuel Gioffre told AFP, noting that Serbia had signaled that it intends to “strengthen its economic relations with Russia.”

Vucevic had met with Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov, whom he thanked for Moscow’s support for Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Serbia greatly appreciates this support and will not forget,” Vucevic said. He also expressed thanks that Moscow had invited Belgrade to take part in the BRICS summit in Kazan earlier this week.

Vucic had said he would not attend, citing the visits by von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, but several cabinet ministers and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin went to Kazan and took part in the BRICS meetings.

Reshetnikov conveyed Moscow’s appreciation for Serbia’s refusal to join the EU in implementing sanctions against Russia. Serbia declared military neutrality and has repeatedly shrugged off pressure from Brussels to “harmonize its foreign policy” with that of the EU.

Both Vucic and the cabinet have pointed out more than once the hypocrisy and double standards of the West in insisting on Ukraine’s borders, while demanding Serbia recognize its province of Kosovo as an independent state run by NATO-backed ethnic Albanians.

Serbia is officially determined to join the EU but the bloc has conditioned its membership on its sanctioning Russia and recognizing Kosovo, among other things, which Vucic has vowed he will never do.