Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin praised security cooperation with Russia, emphasizing continued mutual support on the international stage, in a statement on Tuesday.
Vulin, the former head of intelligence services, made the comments following a meeting with Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev in Moscow, said a government statement.
Kolokoltsev informed Vulin of “attempts to limit Russia’s participation in international police organizations, including attempts to exclude it from Interpol,” the statement added.
Vulin said the fight against transnational crime could not be conducted without Russia.
Measures directed against Moscow “harm the interests of combating crime and reduce the effectiveness of fighting transnational criminal groups,” he added.
Vulin in 2023 was targeted for sanctions by the United States over alleged corruption when he was still head of the intelligence services. He stepped down from that post in November 2023.
“The United States and the European Union are asking for my head in order not to impose sanctions on Serbia,” he said at the time.
He was appointed deputy prime minister at the beginning of May.
Vulin has long been a strident advocate for the so-called “Serbian world” — a union of Serbs living in various countries, something that critics believe mirrors Moscow’s idea of a “Russian world.”
Serbia has been in the waiting room for European Union membership since 2012, but the Balkan country is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas.
While Belgrade condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations it has always refused to sanction the Kremlin.
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