In a telephone conversation, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin congratulated his Serbia’s counterpart Aleksandar Vucic on his convincing victory in the presidential elections and a very significant result of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the parliamentary vote, Vucic’s media office said in a press release.
“Putin wished Vucic luck and success in his responsible position as head of state and Serbia’s progress in the next five years,“ adding he was convinced that “Serbia and Russia will preserve amicable relations,“ the press release added.
Vucic responded that Serbia would continue along the European path and at the same time preserve its sincere and traditionally friendly relations with the Russian Federation.
The two analysed the economic situation and bilateral relations in energy and trade, which recorded growth in 2021 and the first two months of 2022, which is a sign of successful cooperation.
Vucic briefed Putin about the difficulties Serbia was facing with importing crude oil and expressed confidence that the leadership of ‘Gazpromneft,’ Serbia and the EU partners would find a way out of such a situation.
At the same time, Vucic and Putin recalled that the long-term gas contract Serbia had would expire on May 31 and that it was necessary to start talks on the price, quantities, and other conditions of procurement of this important gas for Serbia in the shortest possible time.
Putin briefed Vucic about the events in Ukraine and the reasons why Russia undertook, as he said, ‘operation in Ukraine’. Vucic reiterated Serbia’s known positions and its Council for National Security’s conclusions and said he hoped the conflict in Ukraine would end as soon as possible.
Serbian and Russian presidents have met 19 times in eight years. The first meeting was in 2014. Vučić and Putin met for the first time on July 7 in Moscow, when they talked about “South Stream” and cooperation between the two countries. Their latest meeting was on November 25, 2021./b92
