Serb official visits Moscow, calls sanctions EU ‘hysteria’

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s interior minister has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow in a rare visit by a state official from Europe. Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin highlighted Belgrade’s refusal to join Western sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. Vulin is known for his pro-Russia and anti-Western stance. He said he told Lavrov during their meeting Monday that “Serbia is the only state in Europe that didn’t introduce sanctions and was not part of the (Western) anti-Russian hysteria.” Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership. But the country has for years been drifting away from its EU path and toward traditional Slavic ally Russia as well as China.