Vucic: We must have responsible view concerning Ukraine

BELGRADE - Serbia's view concerning the situation in Ukraine has to be and will be completely responsible and will not be adopted by the outgoing government, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday.

"Serbia has always been and is in favour of following international norms and respecting the territorial integrity of countries, but we cannot be lectured on it by those who have easily violated Serbia's territorial integrity," Vucic told a news conference in Belgrade after a meeting with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik.
"Serbia is on a path towards the EU, it honours its obligations, but it will not take a hostile stand towards Russia and that is all I can tell you at this moment," Vucic stated.

Serbia will have a responsible attitude towards its people and territory, so its opinion regarding the situation in Ukraine has to be responsible and balanced, said Vucic, adding that he believed that view was supported by every citizen once emotions were taken out of the equation.

This is not about balancing between Europe and Russia, because the Serbian government is neither Russian nor German, but Serbian, he stressed.
"I ask you, what policy do you think would be good for Serbia? Do you want us to introduce sanctions to Russia, to have an unfriendly attitude towards them? I think that is not responsible. Do you want us to say that we support a violation of territorial integrity, so that others would say to us: 'You have abandoned Kosovo,' or to say that we are going to abandon our European path," Vucic asked in comment to media speculations about foreign powers' influence on the creation of a new government in Serbia.

The deputy prime minister underscored that the government was behaving very...