Another Serbian official sanctioned by the US will visit Russia

2024-10-04 16:35:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Serbian government announced Friday that its minister without portfolio, Nenad Popovic, will visit Russia to attend an intergovernmental meeting between the two countries in St. Petersburg next month.

Popovic - who is sanctioned by the United States for his ties to Russia - will attend a meeting of the Serbian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which will be held in November, in Saint Petersburg.

In the Government of Serbia, Popovi? is responsible for international economic cooperation and for the social position of the church in the country and abroad.

In addition to Popovic, the Minister for Economic Development of Russia, Maksim Reshetnikov, will also participate in the meeting in St. Petersburg, according to the announcement of the Government of Serbia.

Popovic has been blacklisted by the United States of America since November 2023, due to his ties to Russia.

On the American blacklist is also the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, who on October 4 met with the general director of the Russian energy company "Roseti", Andrei Ryumin, during the visit of the delegation of this company to Belgrade.

Vulin stressed that Serbia is "the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia" and added that Serbia "will not change its policy and investments and people from Russia are completely safe" in Serbia.

As announced by the Government of Serbia, Ryumin emphasized "the great attention that Vulin pays to the development of relations between the Russian Federation and Serbia".

Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia for almost three years, even though the United Nations has condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union, of which Serbia intends to be a part of in the future, asks Belgrade to impose sanctions on Russia.

In his statements, Vulin often criticizes the West, is a frequent visitor to Moscow and is considered one of the strongest supporters of the Kremlin among representatives of the Serbian authorities.

After Vulin's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, the European Union said that "maintaining ties with Russia during its war of aggression against Ukraine is not in line with the values ??of the EU or the accession process"./ REL