The leadership of Serbia expressed regret over the statement of Russian Foreign Ministry Speaker Maria Zakharova, who the day before sarcastically commented on a photograph of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic taken at negotiations in Donald Trump’s office, where the United States once again demanded that Belgrade recognize Kosovo captured by the separatists.
The reason for the scandal was this publication by Maria Zakharova on Facebook regarding a photo from the White House:
The Serbian leadership didn't get the joke.
“Vučić is the only statesman in Europe who has refused to impose sanctions against Russia, and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the army, with which the Russian armed forces have the highest and most fruitful cooperation that can be achieved. The size of a person is not measured by the size of the chair on which he sits, or by the size of the force on whose behalf he speaks, but by the amount of courage in order to defend his people and the friends of his people in every chair,” said the head of the Serbian Ministry of Defense, Alexander Vulin.
Vucic himself said that Zakharova demonstrated “primitivism and vulgarity.”
Russian experts also expressed bewilderment.
“She was taken almost officially as Moscow’s response to the “smart” Washington Speaker Jane Psaki. And as a “Russian Dog” she was quite appropriate. But in the United States, the foreign policy spokesperson for the media has already changed three times, and in our country, during this time, Maria Vladimirovna has risen to the status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary!
...When Masha hints at the Serbian President about Sharon Stone’s character from the movie “Basic Instinct”, who did not fundamentally give up his country’s position at the most difficult negotiations in Washington, she just remains the “Russian Psaki,” comments political scientist Oleg Bondarenko.
“A sense of humor is an excellent quality, but provoking an international scandal for the sake of “likes and reposts” is unacceptable. A representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is “trolling” the top leadership of a friendly country. And, by the way, the leadership of Serbia made a difficult choice, despite the pressure from our “Western” partners, and refused to impose sanctions against Russia. Let me remind you that Serbia remains neutral regarding joining NATO. Proud and persistent fraternal people. A rather cynical remark from the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, considering our fraternal union,” argues political scientist Semyon Bagdasarov.
A few hours later, Zakharova apologized for her post on Facebook, assuring that the joke was only about the Americans’ rejection of the demonstration of their “exceptionalism” in negotiations with Vucic.
Probably to smooth out the scandal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also telephoned Vucic on Sunday. Official reports specify that the interlocutors agreed to develop a “strategic partnership.”