Serbia will maintain its longstanding ties with Russia and will not impose sanctions on Moscow despite EU pressure, a representative of the winning Student List movement has told RT Balkan.
The student-led opposition secured 52.73% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, according to the latest preliminary results, defeating the coalition of former President Aleksandar Vucic. He conceded defeat but warned that Belgrade could abandon its resistance to EU pressure and sanction Russia within months.
The movement emerged from nearly two years of anti-government protests sparked by the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people.
Speaking on Monday, Jovo Bakic, a university professor and Student List representative, said: “We respect Russia both as a great power and as our historically important partner and, in many cases, protector.”
“There will be no changes in that regard,” he added.
Recalling the harsh UN sanctions against Yugoslavia in the 1990s, when Serbia was one of its constituent republics, Bakic said restrictions imposed by “small Serbia” would have little effect on Russia but would be “symbolically very bad” for Belgrade.
🇷🇸 Jovo Bakić za RT Balkan: Studentska lista neće uvoditi sankcije Rusiji ▪️Predstavnik "Studentske liste", profesor Jovo Bakić ponovio je da nova vlada Srbije neće uvoditi sankcije Rusiji, uprkos tvrdnjama bivšeg predsednika Aleksandra Vučića da će se to dogoditi za nekoliko meseci. "Mi Rusiju poštujemo i kao veliku silu i kao našu istorijski važnu partnerku i u mnogim slučajevima zaštitnicu. Tu (u spoljnoj politici zemlje) neće biti nikakvih promena", izjavio je Bakić gostujući u emisiji "Srbija bira" na TV RT Balkan.
Under Vucic, Serbia resisted EU demands to adopt the bloc’s restrictions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, despite pursuing EU membership. The Student List campaigned primarily on domestic reforms, leaving several contentious foreign policy questions unaddressed.
According to Reuters, leading candidates of the victorious movement have said the incoming government would halt arms exports to conflict zones, including sales to Western intermediaries that subsequently supply weapons to Ukraine.
Vucic previously said European buyers could decide how to use Serbian ammunition, including whether to send it to Ukraine, although Belgrade has denied supplying Kiev directly.
Energy ties present another major issue for Serbia’s incoming government. Russia remains the country’s dominant gas supplier, accounting for roughly three-quarters of its needs. In March, Vucic said Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to maintain deliveries on favorable terms, at prices far below those in most of Europe. The agreement was subsequently prolonged through the end of 2026.
Serbia also faces uncertainty over its oil supplies due to US sanctions on NIS, the majority Russian-owned energy company that runs the country’s only oil refinery. Hungarian energy group MOL is seeking to acquire the Russian stake, while the current US waiver allowing NIS to continue business expires on October 30. The company has requested another extension to avoid disruptions to fuel supplies.
Unlike Serbia, the EU has sought to phase out Russian fossil fuel imports and secure alternative suppliers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
Asked about pressure to abandon Russian energy supplies, Bakic said: “We are not here to satisfy foreigners, but to act in our national interest.”
The Kremlin said on Monday that it hoped to maintain mutually beneficial relations with Serbia. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised Vucic’s contribution to bilateral ties and added “As you know, it takes two to tango.”
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