Russia And Serbia Stronger Ties, In Economy, Security And Solidarity

Moscow is ready to step up cooperation with Belgrade, including in the sphere of European security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday at a meeting with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of a session of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Council of Foreign Ministers.

“We highly estimate your personal contribution to efforts geared at strengthening partnership between Russia and Serbia,” Lavrov said. “We are ready to step up and expand cooperation, including in the spheres of economy and European security.”

The Russian foreign minister said Moscow was thankful to Belgrade for its “expressing solidarity” with Russia after the incident with Turkey’s downing a Russian bomber in Syria. He stressed that Russia and Serbia shared the position that “all problems in Europe should be addressed via dialogue, without imposing any unilateral approaches.” “We were inspired by your personal participation in the Victory Parade on May 9,” Lavrov said, adding that a Serbian military unit “was marching along the country’s chief square.”

“This is the symbol of the unity of our peoples. We have always been ans will always be allies,” Lavrov stressed.

Earlier on Thursday, Lavrov met with European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.