BELGRADE, April 1 (RIA Novosti) - Belgrade will not sanction Russia over its handling of the crisis in Ukraine, Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Tuesday.
The news came on the heels of Vucic's trip to Brussels at the helm of the Serbian delegation, where the future premier met on Monday with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
"We respect the territorial integrity of every nation, but we will not impose sanctions against Russia," Vucic said in an interview with the state-run RTS channel, commenting on Ashton's push for Serbia to join an EU sanctions plan.
"We will not be part of this because it would mean going against a country that has never introduced sanctions against Serbia, even when it was pounded with bombs and its territorial integrity was violated by other nations," the future prime minister underscored.
Vucic is just one step away from heading the Serbian government, after his Serbian Progressive Party won by a landslide in snap parliamentary elections in March.
Ahead of the latest round of talks in Brussels, Serbian media speculated the European Union would try to press Belgrade to uphold EU sanctions on Russia after it recognized an independence referendum in Ukraine's breakaway republic of Crimea. The referendum saw over 96 percent of voters favor leaving Ukraine and joining Russia.
The vote followed a violent coup in the former Soviet country on February 22 that put an ultranationalist leadership in power. The Ukrainian parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, amended the constitution and scheduled presidential elections for May 25.
Moscow has denounced these unilateral decisions as illegitimate, considered that Ukraine's lawfully-elected president has never been impeached.
The Russian-Crimean reunification hit a nerve in the United States, European Union and other countries, prompting the allies to levy targeted sanctions against dozens of Russian officials, hounding them with asset freezes and visa bans.
Broader economic sanctions have been heatedly debated for several weeks, with no clear result, as more and more businesses in Europe have warned that limits on trade with Russia would eventually cause a backlash.
Russia's Foreign Ministry earlier cautioned Western leaders against using "the language of sanctions."
