Putin calls for removal of trade hurdles with key Balkan nation
The volume of bilateral trade between Russia and Serbia has recently seen a slight decline, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, calling on both countries to clear away obstacles that prevent turnover from growing.
The two nations have been closely cooperating in vital economic sectors such as industry, transport, and energy, Putin said during a meeting with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
“Probably, it’s time to hold an intergovernmental commission that hasn’t been set up for at least two years, and look at the obstacles that arise in this regard and eliminate them,” the president said.
The Russian leader also reaffirmed Moscow as Belgrade’s key energy partner. He said Russia had been meeting it commitments at a very high level, with supplies provided in a timely manner and on very good terms.
“There are some specific issues that we need to resolve,” Putin stated, adding that the parties are planning to discuss a gas supply contract that expires in March 2025.
He also expressed hope that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic would attend the next BRICS summit, to take place in the Russian city of Kazan in October.
For his part, Vulin said that Belgrade would never impose sanctions on Moscow and would not become a member of NATO, despite heavy Western pressure. The deputy PM emphasized that Serbia would maintain its strategic links with Russia.
“Serbia is not only a strategic partner of Russia, but also an ally. That is why the pressure on us from the West is enormous,” the minister explained.
Vulin has previously expressed the view that Serbia, the largest republic of the former Yugoslavia, should pick BRICS over the EU. The Balkan nation applied for EU membership in 2009 and has been a candidate since 2012, but the bloc recently demanded that it recognize the breakaway province of Kosovo as a condition for membership.
Shortly after the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, Belgrade stated that although it supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity, it would not introduce economic restrictions on Russia given the historically close relations between the two Slavic nations.
Along with neighboring Hungary, Serbia receives Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline that runs under the Black Sea. Both economies depend heavily on Russian energy, and their governments have opposed EU sanctions that would have prevented them from receiving supplies from Moscow.
