Davenport, Chepurin confer with Mrkic

BELGRADE - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic had separate talks on Wednesday with Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport and Russian Ambassador Alexander Chepurin, who informed him about the stands of Brussels and Moscow, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a release.

According to the release, Davenport asked to be received by the Minister in order to convey a message to him from EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton related to the latest developments in Ukraine.

"Minister Mrkic also conferred today with Russian Ambassador Alexander Chepurin, who conveyed a message from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov," states the release, without specifying the content of the messages.

Aston said on Monday that the EU does not recognize the outcome of the referendum on Crimea joining Russia, and on the same day the EU Foreign Affairs Council imposed sanctions against 21 Crimean and Russian officials who will face a freeze on assets as well as a travel ban in the EU.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday recognizing Crimea as an independent state. On Tuesday, Putin, Crimea's Parliament Speaker Vladimir Konstantinov, Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, and the mayor of Sevastopol Alexei Chaliy signed a treaty on the admission of the Republic of Crimea, including Sevastopol as a federal city, into the Russian Federation.

Photo Ministry of Foreign Affairs