“Moscow Will Not Decide Where Serbia Belongs,” Đilas Tells Lavrov

“Serbia is nobody’s governorate, and neither he nor anyone in Moscow will decide where Serbia belongs.” Dragan Đilas directed those words at Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after Lavrov questioned the durability of Serbia’s desire to join the European Union.

Lavrov made the remarks during a lecture by the Russian Knowledge Society on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum. He said countries such as Serbia, described as Russia’s Serbian friends, continued to say they wanted to enter the EU. He added that he believed “that desire will disappear very soon.”

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Serbia is nobody’s governorate, and neither he nor anyone in Moscow will decide where Serbia belongs.

Đilas, the president of Serbia’s Freedom and Justice Party, answered that Serbia was European geographically, historically, economically and culturally. “Its future is in the European Union, and the citizens of Serbia decide that future,” he wrote on the social network X.

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Serbia is a European country. It is European geographically, historically, economically and culturally. Its future is in the European Union, and the citizens of Serbia decide that future.

He also rejected the idea that Serbia would lose its desire for Europe. Instead, he said, the government that had spent 14 years trying to separate Serbia from Europe would be replaced. Đilas accused that government of allowing Russian ministers to speak about Serbia’s future as if they had a say in it.

“Mr. Lavrov, Serbia will choose its future itself. And it will choose Europe,” Đilas added.

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Mr. Lavrov, Serbia will choose its future itself. And it will choose Europe.