Aleksandrovich: Russia encourages separatism in RS to destabilize BiH

Ukrainian Ambassador to Belgrade Oleksandr Aleksandrovich stated that Russia is using Serbia to create chaos and provoke a new war in the Balkans, reports the Patria agency.

Aleksandrovich said this in an interview for the BIRN portal, and prior to that, media in Belgrade reported the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Serbia was presented with an ultimatum by the West, just as Ukraine was before the outbreak of armed conflict in 2014.

Aleksandrovich also stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin "does not care about Serbia", but rather uses Serbia as "another instrument for the destruction of Europe".

- Russia trains Serbian mercenaries to kill Ukrainians. Russia used Serbian extremists to carry out a coup in Montenegro. Russia encourages Serbian separatism in Republika Srpska to destabilize Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Aleksandrovich.

Listing what he considers a series of destabilizing actions by Russia in the Balkans, he claims that Russia "uses the Serbian factor to destabilize Macedonia, plays an active role in turning Kosovo Serbs against Kosovo Albanians, and sells its planes to Serbia to create tensions with Croatia".

- Putin does not care about Serbia, he only uses Serbia as another instrument for the destruction of Europe. Is that what the Serbian people really want? You are allowing Russia to use you to destroy Europe, where you want to study and work. That makes no sense - stated the Ukrainian ambassador.

He adds that Western officials are therefore asking Serbia to "not sit on two chairs".

He also says that Serbia's image in Ukraine is poor, despite the connection between the two Orthodox Slavic nations and the long tradition of cultural ties and cooperation.

- When you have Serbian politicians traveling to Crimea and congratulating Putin on his 'wise and strong policy', when you have Serbian mercenaries, when Serbia votes in the UN against Ukraine - all of this naturally creates a negative image of Serbia in Ukraine - says the Ukrainian ambassador.

He reiterated that Serbia "is doing nothing to prevent its citizens from fighting in eastern Ukraine", where there are currently about 300 Serbs, although it has passed a law prohibiting its citizens from fighting in foreign wars.

- These Serbian mercenaries discredit the Serbian nation in the eyes of the friendly Ukrainian people, who have never done anything bad to Serbs - emphasized Aleksandrovich.

He reminded that Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo and that Ukrainian parliamentarians do not travel to Pristina, does not recognize Kosovo passports, and plays matches on neutral ground.