President of the “Zavetnici” Political Party, Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski, estimated that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov’s announced visit to Serbia is “in line with the policy of military and political neutrality,” seeing as European Parliament member Viola von Cramon has also visited Belgrade.

Đurđević Stamenkovski said to the portal danas.rs that she was invited by Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko to a reception at the Embassy in Belgrade on June 7, on the occasion of Russia Day, which Lavrov is also supposed to attend.

She estimated that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia has never come to Serbia with an ultimatum, and that he has always come as a friend and a partner who respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, and that several months ago he endorsed an informal initiative that Serbia host the signing of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

The President of the “Zavetnici” stated that any official visit is good for Serbia, especially as, according to her, the tabloids and high-ranking dignitaries “gave the impression that Serbia was planning to impose sanctions on Russia”.

“For those reasons, I believe that it may be useful to discuss this with Lavrov directly. I do not think that Vučić is leading a pro-Russian policy, but certainly he is aware that Serbia has some sort of a responsibility to protect its own best interests, which means cooperating with the country of Russia,” she estimated.

Đurđević Stamenkovski believes that “under no circumstances should Serbia pick a side”, especially seeing as it is dependent on Russia for energy, which has proven itself “as a secure partner in the previous period”.

“It is true that the official policy of Serbia is a policy of European integration, but we must keep in mind that Hungary, as a member of the EU, is free to develop relations with the Russian Federation and maintain international cooperation regardless of the EU’s relationship with Russia,” she stressed.