Brnabić: Serbia fully respects Ukraine's territorial integrity

(Patria) - Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said, participating online in the Crimea Platform summit, that Serbia is "not value-neutral" and that it "fully respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".

The Crimea Platform is an international diplomatic initiative for consultation and coordination, formed at the invitation of Ukraine, bringing together officials of the Ukrainian government and international experts whose focus is "criteria for the reintegration of Crimea", after Moscow annexed that Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.

Brnabić stated that Serbia regrets the suffering endured by Ukraine and its people, RSE reports.

- We will continue to pay special attention to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and provide it with assistance, as evidenced by our decision to donate goods and medicines to alleviate humanitarian suffering - said Brnabić.

Brnabić asserted that Serbia is a "true friend" to Ukraine, and emphasised her country's readiness to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and support its European integration by sharing its experiences.

Her participation in the Crimea Platform summit followed this week's meeting between Ukrainian and Serbian presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Aleksandar Vučić at a regional gathering in Athens.

Vučić, assessing the conversation as "sincere, open, friendly and constructive", stated that Serbia respects Ukraine's territorial integrity. He is convinced that there will be no change in Ukraine's stance regarding the territorial integrity of Kosovo, whose independence Ukraine has not recognised.

- Ukraine also wants to have a legally clean situation - Vučić told reporters in Athens after the meeting with Zelenskyy.

Serbia has signed UN declarations condemning the Russian invasion of that country, but refuses to join international sanctions against Russia.

In April this year, Brnabić also stated at a panel of the Bloomberg conference in Dublin that Serbia is not neutral regarding the war in Ukraine and that it clearly condemned the Russian invasion.

She added that "people in Serbia are angry" that the same principle of respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty is not applied in the international community when it comes to Kosovo, which Serbia, under the provisions of the state constitution, considers its territory and does not recognise its independence, which Pristina unilaterally declared in 2008.