Dacic: Western policy laid bare by Die Zeit piece

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said on Wednesday a Die Zeit article arguing that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic can only be "tamed" with a firm hand laid bare the German and Western policy towards Serbia.

The article has been published on the website of the German daily.

"Disciplining Vucic and, as they put it, taming him, because of the independent and sovereign policy he is pursuing... That also shows that they do not know Vucic because, besides economic results, what he is proud of the most is the very fact Serbia is a country with an independent and sovereign policy, which it pursues in its own interest, rather than for the sake of foreign centres of power on any side of the world," Dacic said in a statement to Tanjug.

"Those power-wielders just do not realise that, more than anything, Vucic cannot stand foreign influence, pressure and blackmail. The sooner they realise that, the better for peace and stability in the region," he added.

According to a report by Deutsche Welle, the article said Vucic's policy was detrimental to the EU, the region and to the Serbs themselves, and that Serbia's EU candidate status and access to EU funds must be suspended until it imposed sanctions on Russia and started serious talks with Pristina.