Russia believes that the West has issued an "ultimatum" to Serbia to force Belgrade to choose "any side other than Moscow".
"The West initially set conditions for Serbia, forcing it to make a difficult choice, like choosing the West or choosing Russia, instead of harmoniously combining different development paths, in line with the interests of the Serbian people," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today.
Ms Zakharova said recent comments from the West appeared to be issuing an ultimatum to Serbia, telling it to “choose whichever side you like, as long as it is not Russia”. According to Ms Zakharova, Ukraine was once in a similar “us or them” situation as Serbia, but all warnings were ignored.
Serbian authorities have not commented on the information.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in Moscow on April 4. Photo: AFP
Serbia, which has good relations with Russia, is rocked by anti-government protests after the opposition accused the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of rigging the December 17 parliamentary election, which it won against the pro-European Union Serbian Alliance Against Violence (SPN).
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has denied allegations of vote rigging and said the protests were backed by the West. Vucic said the West wanted to oust him because of his close ties with Russia and Serbia's claim to sovereignty over Kosovo. The breakaway region of Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia has not recognized it.
The Kremlin welcomed the election results in Serbia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said on December 25 that foreign-backed forces in Serbia were trying to spark unrest. Earlier, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabiс confirmed that Russian security services had warned the country about "color revolution"-style protests before they broke out in Belgrade.
Nhu Tam (According to TASS, Reuters )
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