Serbia and Russia pledge deeper cooperation after warm ‘brotherly’ welcome

Serbia and Russia have further strengthened their ties in recent days with the signing of a health agreement between the two countries and the announcement of a military drone delivery from Moscow.

On Tuesday, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Russia’s heavily sanctioned Health Minister Mikhail Murashkov and his Serbian counterpart.

The visiting Russian delegation was warmly welcomed to Serbia with a sign reading, “Welcome, dear brothers, this is your house.”

Speaking after the meeting, Serbia’s Health Minister Grujičić said they would work hard to ensure that the Russian health system’s best practices, particularly in terms of organisation and bureaucracy, are implemented in Serbia.

Murashko, for his part, said that the aim of his Ministry of Health in sending a delegation to Serbia was to exchange experiences in the field of health and technologies, especially concerning prolonging human life.

The Russian delegation, which included representatives of the country’s health institutions and research centres, visited the Belgrade Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and was warmly welcomed.

The cooperation talks continued on Thursday when Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić received Russian Ambassador Aleksandar Bocan-Kharchenko to discuss bilateral relations, cooperation and other regional and international issues of common interest, the Serbian president wrote on Instagram.

“I reiterated my gratitude to Russia for its support in respecting the territorial integrity of Serbia,” Vucic wrote on Facebook about Russia’s stance on Kosovo.

Signs of future cooperation include Vučić’s recent announcement that Serbia will deploy Repellent, the Russian mobile anti-drone system for electronic jamming, which he confirmed he would present in Niš for Serbia’s National Day on 15 February.

Vucic said the drone system was “in our hands” and that Serbia had “paid for it a long time ago”, noting that the Serbian budget had paid for “701 complex weapons systems from domestic industry” and that more than 850 would be procured in the coming years.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Serbia says it has not agreed to any new arms procurement contracts, with Vučić stating in mid-September 2022 that some of the previous deliveries – including Repellent – had not arrived due to the war.

However, it remains the only country in Europe that has refused to align itself with EU foreign policy on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. It is also the only European country that continues signing agreements with Russia at a time when others are enforcing sanctions and looking to lessen cooperation.

(Milena Antonijević | Euractiv.rs)

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