Yuri Kobzar21:07, 25.10.24

According to President Vucic, the BRICS countries do not criticize Serbia, unlike the EU.

Serbia may abandon its aspirations to join the European Union and instead become a member of the BRICS bloc , which has been rapidly expanding, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said, as quoted by The Times .

The publication notes that Belgrade has long been balancing between East and West, but the war in Ukraine is forcing the world to choose one side, and in the case of Serbia, the scales are increasingly tipping in favor of the Kremlin, the publication says.

This week, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin attended the BRICS summit in Kazan along with Serbia’s defense and economy ministers. During the summit, he met with the leaders of China, Belarus, Venezuela and Egypt, and told Russian media that he hoped Belgrade would join the bloc.

Belgrade’s turn toward Moscow may be evidenced by the country’s change in policy toward Russian emigrants living in Serbia. According to Russian oppositionist Pyotr Nikitin, who also found refuge in the country, Russian citizens who express anti-war or anti-Putin views have recently been expelled from Serbia.

President Aleksandar Vucic said that support for joining BRICS is growing among the Serbian population because the bloc’s member countries “blackmail us less” than the EU. According to him, an equal number of Serbs now want to join BRICS and the EU – 42% each.

“When people vote for a new president in two and a half years, this will be one of the key issues. Who knows, maybe it will even become a point for a referendum,” Vucic said.

(c)UNIAN 2024