The President of Serbia has declined to impose sanctions against Russia.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, believes that the country will continue to maintain brotherly and friendly relations with Moscow and Beijing, which is why he refuses to impose sanctions against them. This was reported on Friday, January 24, by written by RTS.

Aleksandar Vučić stated that as long as he is in office, Serbia will not impose sanctions against Russia or "other friends." He plans to have a conversation in the coming days with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to address the situation regarding U.S. sanctions on the Serbian oil industry. This concerns the company "NIS Naftna Industrija Srbije," which is among several companies affected by the latest round of American sanctions. "Gazprom" is a shareholder of NIS.

“The strength of Serbia lies in our autonomy and independence. Let us protect our roots, but also our future,” Vučić noted.

It is worth mentioning that the Balkan state has balanced its relations with Moscow since the onset of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Serbia did not adopt Western sanctions against Russia, but provided assistance to Ukraine and condemned the aggression.

Recently, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Ukraine must restore the transit of Russian gas and ensure that it does not stop the transit of oil for Hungary to agree to the continuation of EU sanctions against Russia.