The news program of the First Channel aired a story entitled "Alexandr Vucic told how the leaders of Western countries are trying to persuade him to the right position on the events around Ukraine." It says :
“What tricks does the West use to achieve its own goals? He does not disdain, including blackmail and direct threats. Another evidence is the revelation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. On the air of local media, he told how the leaders of Western countries are trying to persuade him to the right position on the events around Ukraine. Belgrade opposes anti-Russian sanctions. So Vučić was told without hesitation: Serbia will lose everything if it does not behave as it should. Also, according to the head of the republic, Western leaders in conversations with him have repeatedly admitted that what they say about their non-involvement in the conflict does not mean anything: “They told me: we have a war in Europe and we are part of it, even if We say to the public that this is not so.
In fact, Vučić stated in an interview with the Serbian broadcaster RTS on February 28:
“Now, in the midst of a war between Ukraine and Russia, offensive actions from both sides will soon follow. I see that everyone is in a hurry, something is happening. Well, both of them go on the offensive, in such conditions everyone is in a hurry to take stock and no one asks you about anything. They told me that they had a war in Europe and that we would lose everything if we didn’t behave like that.”
That is, both of them tried to “persuade him to the right position”, but Channel One decided to present it as “blackmail and threats” from the West.
According to Vučić, some unnamed officials told him:
"We have a war in Europe, we are part of it, even if we say it's not."
From the context it is impossible to understand whether he meant the representatives of the West, thus admitting their involvement in the war, or the representatives of Russia, who officially deny the very fact of the war, calling it a "special military operation." However, no one hides the military assistance of Western countries to Ukraine, which quite fits the phrase “we are part of this”.
In addition, Vucic noted that at the moment there is no pressure on Serbia to impose sanctions against Russia. Vucic called Ukraine a true friend of Serbia, but at the same time admitted that he was grateful to Vladimir Putin for his support in the UN Security Council in 2015, when Russia vetoed a British draft resolution recognizing the massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 as genocide.
In an hour and a half interview, Vučić touched on the war in Ukraine only in passing, but the main topic was the settlement of the Kosovo problem.
