Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has congratulated his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on his victory in the presidential elections.
Vučić said he handed the letter of congratulations to the Russian ambassador in Belgrade, Alexander Bocan Harchenko.
“In it, besides congratulating him on the victory, I also explained the gravity of the situation facing Serbs in ‘Kosovo and Metohija’, the major political challenges Serbia is facing, and I thanked Russia for its support for the territorial integrity of Serbia,” Vučić said on Instagram.
The President of Serbia spoke with the Russian ambassador two days after the third-term presidential elections in Russia, which Putin won.
He easily secured 87 percent of the votes in elections controlled by the Kremlin.
The West has said it does not consider these elections either free or fair.
Serbian authorities sent a delegation of observers to Russia to closely monitor the electoral process.
Serbia is one of the few European countries that has not imposed sanctions on Russia for starting the war in neighboring Ukraine in 2022.
Official Belgrade relies on Russia’s support in international organizations and other mechanisms, especially regarding the non-recognition of Kosovo’s statehood.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence but engages in official dialogue with Pristina, with the mediation of the European Union in Brussels since 2011.
The parties have reached some agreements aimed at normalizing relations, but not all have been implemented.
Dodik “celebrates” Putin’s victory with the colors of the Russian flag
On the evening of March 18, the building housing the headquarters of the president of the entity of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina was illuminated with the colors of the Russian flag.
This was done to “honor Vladimir Putin’s victory” in the presidential elections in Russia and as a sign of friendship between Republika Srpska and Russia, said the president of this entity, Milorad Dodik, through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The pro-Russian leader of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who is under sanctions from the United States and United Kingdom due to his activities against the Dayton Peace Agreement, previously congratulated Putin on his victory.
Dodik is one of the few officials who have met with Putin since Russia began its occupation of Ukraine in February 2022. Since the start of aggression against Ukraine, the two leaders have met four times.
The last time they met was on February 21 in Kazan, in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.
During that meeting, Putin awarded Dodik the Order of Alexander Nevsky, which Dodik received in June of last year for “contributing to the development of cooperation” between Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Meanwhile, Miroslav Vujičić, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srđan Mazalica, a member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, and Siniša Vidović, an advisor to the president of the National Assembly, were observers in the Russian presidential elections.
They were part of the European observers who participated in small numbers in the Russian elections. No observer was from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
