Comment by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for Vesti v Subbotu programme at Rossiya 1 TV channel following his visit to Serbia, Belgrade, February 22, 2018
Question: In my opinion I think it was one of the happiest visits that has taken place recently, what do you think? Such a fabulous atmosphere…
Sergey Lavrov: I think there were several reasons for this. First of all, the date itself: we mark the 180th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, and the contacts themselves go back even further than that. Secondly, what Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said while being presented with the order was in fact true. Crowds of people that gathered here, at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade, and people who, despite the snow and the rain, attended the ceremony to lay wreaths at the memorial to Belgrade Liberators, they were not paid for it or forced to do it. They came of their own accord. They carried portraits of our President and Russian flags – all of it came from the bottom of their hearts. Mr Dacic was right: we have such good relations because we love our countries; Serbs love Russia and Russians love Serbia.
Finally, the timing of everything played a key role, because at the moment both of our countries are being put under unconcealed pressure. In his speech, Ivica Dacic mentioned the attempts to use Serbia’s interest for European integration to force Belgrade to take an anti-Russian stance.
There are very few people in Europe, by the way, who can explain their views on the current events so simply. I think the combination of all these factors provided a very emotionally intense visit. We are very grateful to the Serbian party for it.
