EU Calls on Serbia to Impose Sanctions on Russia

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has said that Serbia must impose sanctions on Russia if it wants to join the European Union. The Brussels official made the condition just days after Serbia’s opposition Student List movement secured 52.5% of the vote in snap parliamentary elections, defeating former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

Vučić conceded defeat but warned that the European Union would once again pressure Belgrade to impose economic sanctions on Moscow, a step he has consistently refused to take, citing important trade and cultural ties. In an interview with Polish broadcaster TVP World, Kos was asked whether Serbia could become a member of the European Union while continuing to refrain from imposing sanctions on Moscow. Since February 2022, Brussels has introduced 22 packages of sanctions against Russia.

In response, Kos said the European Union requires prospective new members to demonstrate “strategic alignment” as part of the assessment process before accession. The commissioner said it might be “impossible” for a country to join the bloc if it was not aligned with the EU on foreign and security policy — meaning it did not stand alongside the bloc in its confrontation with Russia — particularly in relation to the conflict in Ukraine.

However, Kos stressed that talks with Serbia’s new government had not yet begun. She said Serbia first needed to form a new government, after which the EU would assess whether and how it could move forward in this area. At present, there is no certainty about the Student List movement’s position on sanctions against Russia. One of its representatives, university professor Jovo Bakić, told RT Balkan earlier this week that members of the movement regarded Russia as a great power, a historically important partner and, in many respects, a protector of Serbia. Bakić argued that any sanctions imposed by “small Serbia” would have little impact on Moscow but would be “symbolically very damaging” to Belgrade.

However, Ilija Srdanović, a leading candidate on the Student List, did not explicitly rule out reconsidering Belgrade’s longstanding refusal to impose sanctions on Russia in an interview with Radio Free Europe. When pressed on the issue, he said that foreign policy decisions should be made by the citizens of Serbia, rather than by a single leader from a “very small group” within the government. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow hoped to maintain mutually beneficial relations with Serbia under the leadership of the Student List movement. He added, “As you know, it takes two to tango.”

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticised what she described as the “harsh and dishonest approach” through which the European Union was trying to drive a wedge between Moscow and Belgrade. She stressed that Serbia joining sanctions against Russia would be more than just a political gesture. It would mean that Serbia was “shooting itself in the foot” by cutting off its supplies of Russian energy and stopping the sale of its own products to Russia.