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Russian President Vladimir Putin will not visit Belgrade in October, as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on several occasions in recent months, Danas has learned unofficially through representatives of diplomatic circles.
Photo: EPA-EFE / MAXIM SHIPENKOVOur sources claim that the Kremlin did not reveal why Putin changed his mind and abandoned the planned arrival, but note that “Russians certainly do not like Serbia’s recent rapprochement with the United States on foreign policy, which was especially evident during the recent signing of the White Agreement “. at home, on the normalization of economic relations between Belgrade and Pristina. “
“The agreement between the Serbian White House and Kosovo marks another turning point in the ‘constant’ trend of losing Russia’s influence in the Balkans, irritating the Kremlin. Russia’s closest partner in the Balkans, Serbia, is settling the Kosovo dispute without any Russian involvement in the negotiations, and is closing in on the United States, whose influence is growing at Russia’s expense. By posting an insulting post on Twitter, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova probably believed that she was expressing the desire of her ‘political masters’ to condemn Serbia for disloyalty. But President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saw things differently from her: Putin was quick to apologize for Zakharov’s tweet, while Lavrov supported the Washington agreement and the prospect of reaching an agreement between Serbia and Serbia. Kosovo. Therefore, Russia will strive to preserve good relations with Serbia, although the strengthening of the influence of the United States in Serbia is noticeable, ”says our interlocutor from diplomatic circles.
It should be remembered that the Serbian president said in June, after a meeting with the Russian president in Moscow, that Putin had confirmed that he would visit Serbia in October. Vučić noted that it would be a “magnificent event”, as well as that “we will open the Temple of Saint Sava”.
“These will be the days that will confirm the joint struggle of the Serbian and Russian people in World War II,” the Serbian president said during his visit to Moscow during the military parade.
It remains a question whether a military parade will be organized on October 20, the anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in the Second World War, as the office of the President of Serbia did not want to say anything for our document yesterday on this issue.
During his official visit to Belgrade in January 2019, Putin, accompanied by Vučić and the Serbian Patriarch Irinej, visited the works at the Temple of Saint Sava.
The two presidents then placed cubes the color of state flags in a mosaic made by Russian artists in the Temple, and after the visit, Putin briefly thanked the citizens gathered in front of the Temple who came to greet him with the words: “Thank you. for friendship. “
At that time, opposition demonstrations against Vučić also took place, and then the Vučić SNS succeeded in taking large numbers of people to the streets as part of Putin’s visit.
In an online interview published today for the Russian agency TASS, Vučić said that Serbia will never join NATO, or any other military structure, or impose sanctions on Russia, even in the event of pressure on Belgrade.
Lavrov on a mini Balkan tour
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Athens, Zagreb and Sarajevo later this month. He is scheduled to meet three members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 27 and visit eastern Sarajevo as part of the visit, where the institutions of the Republika Srpska are located, which is interpreted as “support from the Kremlin to the Republika Srpska “. Danas sources say Lavrov will not visit Serbia during this “mini Balkan tour”, where he was in June.
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