Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that he did not “announce his political agenda“ to Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a question about the Russian point of view and the first official visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Serbia, as well as whether he had previously discussed this visit with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, BTA reported.
“I did not talk to him because I do not announce my political program to anyone (in advance), because Serbia is not a puppet of any other country in the world. We have our own program and we take care of our own foreign policy. That's all," Vucic stressed, quoted by RTS.
He pointed out that the same applies to Putin's meetings with US President Donald Trump, US envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, European representatives or anyone else.
"We are an independent state and we will remain so in the future," Vucic said.
When asked if he had seen any indirect attempts by the Russian side to prevent Zelensky's visit to Serbia, Vucic replied that he had seen a lot of criticism of him, but that, as he assessed, they came mostly without real arguments. He stressed that Putin is an "intelligent and strong leader".
Speaking about his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vučić pointed out that they had previously met not once, but several times a year.
"We had mutual respect, so to speak, I talked to him, I don't know exactly, 21 or 22 times, and I visited Russia many times. He also visited Serbia", Vučić said.
He stated that Serbia and Russia have traditional ties and always will have them, and that the two countries traditionally celebrate Victory Day together on May 9, because, in his words, "the Russian army had a great influence on the liberation of Serbia".
"We also had great economic interests. We still get most of our gas from Russia. At the same time, they still own our oil company NIS, which was sold to them by a previous government in 2008,” Vucic said.
During his visit to Belgrade, Zelensky confirmed Ukraine’s position that it supports the territorial integrity of Serbia and does not recognize the independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia in 2008.
Since then, Belgrade and Pristina have been conducting a dialogue under the auspices of the EU to normalize their relations, but tensions remain high and contentious issues have been partially resolved or postponed for years, Serbian media recall.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas stressed that normalization of relations remains a prerequisite for the European integration of both countries.
The lack of normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade continues to hinder both partners in their European path“, also stated in a declaration adopted at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels in December 2025.
“All agreements reached within the framework of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, facilitated by the EU, must be implemented, in particular the Agreement on the Pathway to Normalisation and its Annex“, the declaration calls for.
The document stresses that financial support to Kosovo and Serbia under the Western Balkans Reform and Growth Facility “is conditional on the constructive engagement of the partners with measurable progress and tangible results in the normalisation of their relations“.
The statement refers to the verbal agreement of March 2023 reached between the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia, Albin Kurti and Aleksandar Vučić, under the auspices of the European Union. It sets out seven steps to implement a document reached the previous month that commits the two countries to “normal, good-neighbourly relations with each other on the basis of equal rights” - a quarter of a century after Kosovo seceded from Serbia and 15 years after it declared independence.
Nearly three years later, the agreement and its implementation have not been implemented.