BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – In a wonderful movement, Serbia joined the European Union to reject the effects of elections in Belarus and criticize the crackdown on protesters against the country’s autocratic leader.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Thursday that Belgrade had signed the EU solution on Belarus to align the policies of the Balkan country with those of the bloc it officially wishes to join.
Belgrade maintained close relations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who last made a stopover in the Balkan country in December and was the only world leader to make a stopover in Serbia during NATO’s 1999 bombing of the country to crack down on ethnic Albanian separatists, who were considered his aid to Serbia’s former strongman , Slobodan Milosevic.
“I hope Lukashenko doesn’t blame us,” Brnabic said, though he admitted for the first time that Serbia accepted the EU’s position on the Belarusian elections. “We won’t have to give up the friendship Lukashenko showed with our people in difficult times. “
Last month, European Union leaders said they supported those protesting democratic rights in Belarus, rejected the effects of elections that took the country’s leader back into force for 26 years, and warned that they were preparing a long list of Belarusians facing sanctions for voter fraud and brutal repression against protesters.
Serbia’s acceptance of the EU complaint against the Belarusian leader was first revealed on Wednesday in tweets via EU and US ambassadors to Belgrade who welcomed the decision.
“I welcome Serbia for its adherence to the EU statement on the presidential elections in Belarus,” EU Ambassador Sam Fabrizi wrote on Twitter.
U. S. Ambassador to Serbia Anthony Godfrey also welcomed Belgrade’s decision: “It is to see that Serbia is protecting its European environment,” he wrote on Twitter.
Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic has also come under fire in the House and for restricting media freedoms, holding elections that the opposition says are not lax and fair, and cracking down on anti-government protesters.
Despite officially applying to join the EU, Serbia has strengthened its political, economic and military ties with Russia and China. He refused to enroll in the EU sanctions against Russia for its policies on Ukraine.
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