Vucic said that Putin allowed him to join NATO
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that during his ninth meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he was not against Belgrade joining the North Atlantic Alliance (the politicians met 19 times in total).
Vucic stated this in an interview with Vladimir Solovyov, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“He received different information and was somewhat angry, although he did not want to show it. And then he began to speak in a quieter voice. He says: “Okay, Alexander, you can become part of NATO, but our peoples will remain friends. This is your choice". I listened to him for 35 minutes and then said: “Who even told you that.” I realized that there was a lot of information that came to him, and I said: “Serbia is a military neutral country. Serbia will not join NATO. I'm not talking about what's happening today. I'm talking about the future. Serbia will not join any military alliance,” recalls Vucic.
“We are strengthening our legislative and military base. I don't understand how you could think that we are going to NATO. Serbia will not impose any sanctions against Russia. This is the only country that, in a military, military-technical and political sense, cooperates with you in this way. And we will continue to behave this way. I guarantee you: this is in the interests of not only Russia, but also Serbia.” Since then, we have never had difficult conversations, because he realized that he can trust what he hears from me,” said the Serbian President.
He also said that Putin usually takes his statements about Serbia’s desire to join the European Union ironically.
“If Serbia is a military-neutral country, it will pursue its own policy, and Serbian policy can never be hostile towards Russia. I tell everyone in the world this. President Putin smiles when I say: “You know that we are on the European path. He says: “I know, I know that they don’t want to accept you, but you are on the European path. He tells me this every time. And I tell Europeans and Americans, because I don’t want to hide anything: “We have a good special relationship with Russia, and we don’t want to spoil it. Don’t demand or even ask.” I think I managed to gain respect and they don’t ask me anything else,” Vucic said.
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