Vulin: Serbia has policy of its own, no major surprises for gov't

BELGRADE - In 2025, Serbia will continue to pursue its policy based on military neutrality, sovereignty, economic independence and safeguarding of national interests, says Serbian Deputy PM Aleksandar Vulin, noting that, irrespective of the challenges ahead of Serbia, there are no major surprises for the government.

"The Government of Serbia has a policy that it must and needs to pursue. We know what is ahead of us, we are a government of continuity and it is known what can be expected from us," Vulin told Tanjug in an interview.

Commenting on potential US sanctions on Serbia's majority Russian-owned oil company NIS, Vulin said both Serbia and Russia were concerned by this and that Moscow saw the move as another attempt to snatch Russian property.

"We used to be convinced the Western world is based on multi-party democracy, economic liberalism and a free market where property is sacred, be it private or state-owned. As you can see, it is not. If the property is Russian or belongs to some who are not quite on the best of terms with representatives of the Western world, then it can be snatched and taken away in various ways," Vulin said.

"Imposing sanctions on NIS is not imposing sanctions on Russia, but on Serbia, and that is a direct blow to Serbia. Of course, that is due to our independent policy and aimed at us abandoning the independent policy and imposing sanctions on the Russian Federation as a first step," Vulin noted.