Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday that Serbia has not joined the Crimea Platform, a new international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine.

“Serbia has not joined the Crimea Platform or the Declaration, the Prime Minister (Ana Brnabic) participated in the work of this body via video link but we did not back it, nor did we accept the text of the Crimea Platform, precisely because it is outside the framework acceptable to us,” Dacic told the pro-regime Pink TV.

Commenting his Thursday meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Dacic said Serbia’s position on the Platform and on the Declaration recently adopted in Athens was met with positive comments from Russia, but that this was not the purpose of the meeting.

“He handed me a letter from (Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim) Reshetnikov, he is my colleague from the Russian side, we co-chair the (Serbia-Russia) Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation. It is about economic and other issues, where we should have some meetings. I suggested that they set the dates for the visit, talks between the co-chairs, other ministers and of course for the opportunity to meet with the (Russian Foreign Affairs) Minister Sergey Lavrov,” the Serbian Foreign Minister.

Dacic also commented on the Declaration on Ukraine adopted by Western Balkans countries, Moldova, Ukraine and European Union (EU) representatives several days ago in Athens, noting that a paragraph on imposing sanctions on Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name in the paragraph on war crimes were dropped from the Declaration at Serbia’s request.

Regarding Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Athens and claims that Serbia will supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition in exchange for it not recognizing Kosovo’s independence, Dacic said this was “nonsense and an insult to Ukraine.”

“It turns out that we are some world military superpower and that we can manipulate political positions across the globe thanks to our weapons,” said Dacic.

Dacic stressed that Serbia has helped Ukraine in the past on various issues such as humanitarian matters, energy sources, equipment needed for the functioning of society in conditions of war, and added that it will continue to do so.