Chairman of the Federation Council

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday left for a several-day visit to the Russian Federation during which he will also meet with President Vladimir Putin, with whom he will attend the signing of several bilateral agreements.

BELGRADE - Serbia is firmly committed to develop further its political relations with Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at a meeting with Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

They discussed bilateral ties, the situation in the region and an upcoming visit to Moscow by a Serbian delegation.

BELGRADE - The Russian Federation has not and will not recognise Kosovo's independence, Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, said after a meeting with Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic in Belgrade on Monday.

BELGRADE - Forcing Serbia to make "an artificial choice" between the West and Russia is impermissible, Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, told Serbian MPs on Monday, noting there was no force in the world that could destroy the friendship and cooperation between Russia and Serbia.

BELGRADE - Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic have underlined that Russia and Serbia are committed to further improvement of cooperation, especially on the inter-parliamentary level and in the field of economy.

BELGRADE - The decision to halt the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline is most likely temporary, Alexander Porfiryevich Torshin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation's Federal Assembly, said on Tuesday, noting that it is never too late to implement that project.