2023-12-25 15:17:00
Russia accused the West on Monday of seeking to “destabilize” the situation in Serbia, where demonstrators contesting the results of recent legislative elections attacked Belgrade town hall the day before.
“It is obvious that the collective West seeks to destabilize the situation in the country,” declared the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, quoted by the public agency RIA Novosti, comparing the demonstrations in Serbia to those of the Maidan in Kiev, which led to the coming to power of pro-Westerners in Ukraine in early 2014.
“Attempts by third-party forces, including from abroad, to provoke such unrest in Belgrade are obvious,” echoed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during his daily press briefing.
However, he considered that “what is happening is exclusively Serbia’s internal matter.”
Russia “has never interfered and does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of anyone, especially its ally, Serbia,” Mr. Peskov stressed.
Protesters contesting the results of recent legislative elections in Serbia attacked the capital’s town hall on Sunday, smashing windows with stones, before being pushed back by police.
Serbian nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose party was declared the winner of the December 17 legislative elections, said two police officers were “seriously injured” during the demonstration, while more than 35 people were arrested.
In this context, the Russian ambassador in Belgrade, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, was received by Mr. Vucic on Monday, according to the Russian television channel Rossia 24.
According to Mr. Botsan-Kharchenko, the Serbian president told him that “the opposition started the protests encouraged and supported from the outside”, stressing that he could not divulge further details of their “confidential conversation”.
“All the discontent and attempts to destabilize Vucic’s power are linked above all to his firm desire not to join the anti-Russian sanctions” decreed by the West, assured the Russian ambassador.
Moscow and Belgrade maintain historic relations and Serbia, which aspires to join the EU, condemned the Russian assault on Ukraine at the United Nations, while refusing to take part in sanctions against Moscow.
The December 17 vote attracted widespread criticism after a team of international observers – including representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – denounced a series of “irregularities”, including “vote buying” and “ballot stuffing”.
12/25/2023 14:16:46 – Moscow (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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