Vucic: Elections due in October or November, parliamentary and presidential polls to be held separately

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday evening elections in Serbia would take place in October or November and that, most likely, parliamentary elections would be held first and that presidential elections would follow.

"The last time, too, they (the opposition) requested, insisted that these elections be held separately, so that they can have more opportunities and that people can decide in different ways, and I take into account pleas from opposition parties and everyone else," Vucic told the RTS when asked if parliamentary and presidential elections would be held simultaneously.

He said a decision to call elections would likely be made in August or September.

"Therefore, the elections can take place either in October or November. That is it - most likely, parliamentary elections will be held first, and then presidential elections will follow," Vucic said.

Vucic: Baltic, Scandinavian and Benelux states wanted us to impose sanctions on Russia

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday evening Serbia's failure to impose sanctions on Russia had been the main reason for objections by Baltic, Scandinavian and Benelux states in the EU's decision-making on whether to open Cluster 3 in the accession talks with Serbia, and noted that Belgrade would continue to build good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.

"The fundamental objection is 'impose sanctions on Russia.' If you impose sanctions on Russia, you suddenly become a highly democratic country. When you 'ban Russian media,' you become even more democratic, and that is it," Vucic told the RTS.

"But we have not made such a decision. We respect Ukraine very much, Ukraine is a friendly country to us, a country that does not recognise 'Kosovo,'" Vucic said, adding that Russia, an advocate of preserving the territorial integrity of Serbia, was a friendly country, too.

Vucic noted that Serbia would continue to build good relations with both Ukraine and Russia but would not change its policy under pressure, blackmail or anything similar.