Following the conversation between outgoing Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US State Department recalled the warning by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Serbia is involved in "potentially problematic and explosive issues that are of international concern."
A day before resigning, Vučić had a phone conversation with Putin on September 26 about the gas deal Serbia expects to reach with Russia, as well as bilateral cooperation. After the conversation, Vučić stated that he is “sure” that the next president of Serbia “will know how to take care of Serbia’s interests and maintain that kind of balance and responsibility towards all important actors in international politics.”
In response to Radio Free Europe's question about this conversation, a State Department spokesperson referred to Rubio's statement of September 23. Rubio had said that, within the framework of the strategic partnership that the United States intends to deepen with Serbia, Washington simultaneously intends to address potentially problematic issues that may arise and that directly affect American interests.
In July, the United States and Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Infrastructure and Regional Energy Security, as part of the strategic dialogue process held in Washington. The meeting between American and Serbian officials was opened by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In August, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives introduced a bill calling for US measures regarding Serbia, due to what the document describes as a “serious regression” in democracy and the rule of law, as well as Serbia’s cooperation with Russia, China and Iran.
According to the draft law, Serbia has marked serious setbacks in the field of democracy, which, according to the document, is also reflected in the Human Rights Report for 2024 and the European Parliament Report on Serbia for 2025. These reports mention significant problems with the rule of law, judicial independence, media freedom and corruption.
Although a candidate country for membership in the European Union, Serbia has not opened any new negotiation chapters for almost five years, among other reasons due to the lack of progress in the rule of law and the lack of harmonization of its foreign policy with that of the EU. Two months after the opening of the last negotiation chapter, Moscow launched the full-scale Russian occupation of Ukraine.
Serbia did not harmonize its foreign policy with the European Union and did not impose sanctions on Russia. This was one of the main reasons for the stagnation of accession negotiations, while at the same time there was a deterioration in the rule of law.
Recently, US Congressman Joe Wilson proposed that the annual meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly be moved from Serbia to South Carolina. He said the main reason for this proposal is, according to him, the "excessive influence" of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Serbia. /REL
