Brnabic: Russia serious state, I do not believe it is behind protest

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Friday she did not believe the Russian Federation was behind a February 15 protest held outside the Presidency of Serbia building in central Belgrade.

"I do not believe the Russian Federation is behind that protest in any way or that it supports such people in any way, indirectly or directly," Brnabic told reporters in Belgrade.

She noted that Russia was too serious a state to have anything to do with such people.

"Those people are self-proclaimed patriots who are making references to another state, and they organised an attack on President Aleksandar Vucic and institutions on a state holiday - the day of the Meeting of the Lord, on Statehood Day. That says enough about what kind of patriots they are, who and what state is their number one priority, and it is definitely not Serbia," Brnabic said.

She said the topics of her meeting with Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko later in the day - scheduled before the protest - would definitely include the protest because its participants had said they had close ties with the Russian Federation.