Vulin tells Lavrov Serbia not part of anti-Russian hysteria

A ministry press release quoted Vulin as saying  that “the Serbia that President Aleksandar Vucic heads is not forgetting the centuries of brotherhood” and has not imposed sanctions on Russia. He also expressed gratitude for Moscow’s “respect for the sovereignty and integrity of Serbia and its failure to recognize the independence of Kosovo”. The press release quoted Lavrov as saying that Russia fully supports Serbia’s efforts to maintain its territorial integrity.

The two ministers said that Serbia and Russia have exceptional diplomatic relations and successful cooperation in these times of huge challenges just as Presidents Vucic and Vladimir Putin have exceptionally good personal relations.

The TASS news agency said earlier that Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko pointed out that the Kosovo issue dominated preparations for the meeting while the Foreign Ministry said that Vulin and Lavrov would also discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The ministry press release said that Vulin also met with the CEO of the Rostec military industry conglomerate General Sergey Chemezov and Alexander Mikheev, CEO of the Rosoboronexport military industry export company to discuss continuing cooperation with the Serbian Internal Affairs Ministry. It quoted Vulin as saying that the procurement of Rostec products is very important in upgrading the capacities of the Internal Affairs Ministry and greater efficiency of the Serbian police.

Earlier, General Chemezov presented Vulin with a decoration for contributions to cooperation between Rostec and the Serbian ministry.

The press release said that several ministry officials as well as Serbian Gendarmerie commander Dejan Lukovic received medals from the head of the Russian federal military-technical cooperation service Dmitri Shugayev.