FACTBOX: Russia-Serbia Relations

FACTBOX: Russia-Serbia Relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic held a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the development of Russian-Serbian relations, as well as regional and international agenda.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic held a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the development of Russian-Serbian relations, as well as regional and international agenda.

Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were established on June 24, 1940. The ties subsequently maintained in full between the Russian Federation and the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, and, then, between the Russian Federation and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

On June 11, 2006, the Russian Foreign Ministry recognized that, following Montenegro's declaration of independence, the Republic of Serbia would assume the international legal personality of the disbanded Serbia and Montenegro. Russia and Serbia have been maintaining a traditionally active political dialogue since then.

Both countries have held regular top-level meetings. On May 24, 2013, Putin and his then Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolic signed a Declaration on Strategic Partnership on behalf of their nations in the Russian city of Sochi. On October 30, 2013, the Russian president received Nikolic in Moscow. During this meeting, Putin and Nikolic discussed issues of bilateral relations. On February 6-9, 2014, Nikolic visited Sochi to attend the opening ceremony of the 22nd Olympic Games.

On October 16, 2014, Putin visited Serbia to mark the 70th anniversary of Belgrade's liberation from Nazi occupation in World War II. As part of this visit, Putin met with Nikolic and Vucic.

On April 24, 2015, the Russian and Serbian presidents met in Yerevan to attend commemoration events marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire. They also met on May 8-9 in Moscow during celebrations of the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II and in June in Baku at the opening ceremony of the first European Games.

On March 9-10, 2016, Nikolic arrived in Moscow on a working visit, as part of which he discussed with Putin political, economic and trade cooperation as well as relevant issues on the international agenda.

During Nikolic's working visit to St. Petersburg on October 12-14, 2016, the Serbian and Russian sides signed a range of cooperation agreements and a general consulate in St. Petersburg was opened.

On March 27, 2017, Putin received Vucic in the Kremlin. They discussed prospects for the development of Russian-Serbian relations, in particular, increasing trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, and exchanged views on current international and regional problems.

On April 3, 2017, Putin sent a congratulatory message to Vucic on being elected as President of Serbia.

On December 18-20, 2017, Vucic made an official visit to Russia, during which he met with Putin. Documents in the sphere of social security, economy and tourism were signed as a result of the talks.

On May 8-9, 2018, Vucic visited Moscow to take part in celebrations to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The Russian and Serbian presidents discussed the current state and prospects for further development of Russian-Serbian cooperation and reviewed progress made on joint investment projects.

On May 9, Vucic together with Putin took part in "Immortal Regiment" parade. These parades are organized across Russia and around the world on Victory Day with people marching in the streets carrying portraits of their relatives who took part in World War II.

On May 22, 2017, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on the sidelines of the summit of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). Russian-Serbian trade and economic ties were discussed.

On June 2, 2017, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Dacic held a meeting on the margins of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Another regular meeting of the heads of foreign affairs was held on September 29, 2017 in Moscow.

On September 19, 2017, Lavrov spoke with Vucic on the margins of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

On February 21-22, 2018, Lavrov made a working visit to Serbia, timed to the 180th anniversary of the establishment of Russian-Serbian diplomatic relations. He was received by Vucic and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic in Belgrade. He also held extensive negotiations with Dacic, with whom Lavrov jointly spoke to students at Belgrade University. Lavrov awarded Dacic with a Russian state medal, the Order of Friendship, at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On August 21, 2018, Lavrov and Dacic held a meeting in Sochi. The situation in Kosovo was reviewed in detail and steps were outlined to further improve coordination in this area. Kosovo proclaimed its independence from Serbia in 2008. While over 100 UN member states have officially recognized Kosovo's independence, Serbia alongside Russia, China, Israel and several other countries have not recognized the secession. Over the past months, Serbia and Kosovo have been exploring various options to settle their border issues.

Another regular meeting of the two foreign ministers was held on September 21, 2018 in Banja Luka, on the margins of Lavrov's working visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Russia and Serbia have also developed inter-parliamentary cooperation. On June 5, 2017, a delegation of the Russian State Duma headed by the chairman of Russian lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, paid an official visit to Belgrade. Within the framework of the visit, Volodin was received by Vucic.

On November 20-21, 2017, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, visited Serbia and met with Vucic. During the visit, Matviyenko was awarded the Serbian Karic Foundation prize for strengthening democracy, peace, cooperation and friendship between nations.

On December 20, 2017, as part of his official visit to Moscow, Vucic held a meeting with Matviyenko.

On September 20, 2018, Matviyenko, on the margins of the second Eurasian Women's Forum in St. Petersburg, met with the chair of the Serbian National Assembly, Maja Gojkovic. The issues of the development of interregional cooperation and negotiations for the drafting of a free trade agreement between Serbia and the Eurasian Economic Union were discussed.

Russia and Serbia actively cooperate in the international arena. The focus on the membership of the European Union, defined by the Serbian leadership as a key foreign policy priority, is not considered in Belgrade as an obstacle to further enhance cooperation with Russia.

The Russian-Serbian dialogue has traditionally been focused on supporting peace and stability in the Balkans, including in the context of the problem of migration, which, in one form or another, has affected all the states of South-Eastern Europe. Settling the issue of Kosovo is constantly on the agenda of bilateral political dialogues.

Both countries have developed trade and economic relations. The Russian-Serbian Intergovernmental Committee on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation is functioning effectively.

In 2017, Russia's trade with Serbia amounted to about $2.039 billion, which is a 23 percent increase on 2016. Russia's exports to Serbia amounted to $926.2 million, which is 20.25 percent more than in 2016; Russia's imports from Serbia amounted to $1.112 billion, showing an increase by 25.45 percent.

Russian exports to Serbia are mainly mineral products, chemical industry products, metals and products made of these metals, food and agricultural products, machinery, equipment and transport vehicles, wood and paper products.

Russian imports from Serbia mostly food and agricultural products; chemical industry products; textiles and footwear; machinery, equipment and transport vehicles; wood and pulp and paper products; metals and products made of these metals.

The two countries have a free trade agreement and the vast majority of goods are duty free.

Serbia has accumulated over $4 billion of Russian capital. In turn, the Serbian partners have invested about $500,000 million in the Russian economy.

Energy is the priority area of cooperation between the two countries. Russia almost completely meets the needs of Serbia in natural gas, covering more than 90 percent of the needs. The deliveries increased by a quarter in 2017 and exceeded 2 billion cubic meters (70.06 billion cubic feet). According to Putin, Russia expects to increase its exports of natural gas to Serbia to 3.5 billion cubic meters in 2022.

The issue of connecting Serbian partners to the project of building a new energy supply route to the Turkish Stream, which is being implemented by Gazprom, is under active consideration.

An example of successful cooperation between the two nations is the Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) oil and gas company reconstruction and development project, in which Russia's Gazprom Neft is the major shareholder and investor. Once an unprofitable business, NIS has become a regional leader in its industry and provides 14 percent of budget revenues in Serbia. Gazprom Neft continues its modernization.

Russian energy systems machine-building company Power Machines carry out a large-scale reconstruction of the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station. Power Machines are also ready to join the technical re-equipment of other energy facilities in Serbia.

A project for the reconstruction and modernization of Serbian railways, involving Russia's RZD International LCC railway company, is among other areas of economic cooperation and of great importance in the transport and infrastructure sphere, in a contest of $800 million Russian export loan, which was approved in 2013.

On July 30, 2018, RZD International began laying high-speed railway tracks in Serbia for the movement of trains at a speed of 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour. The total length of the section is more than 40 kilometers. RZD International continues to work on the construction of two large-scale facilities that have no analogues in Serbia: the railroad tunnel Chortanovci and the three-kilometer (1.8 miles) long viaduct along the Danube River.

Many Russian companies such as energy giant LUKoil, largest banks Sberbank, VTB and one of the largest Federal insurers Sogaz are successfully operating in Serbia.

Russia and Serbia signed a document on the principles of Russian-Serbian cooperation in the field of innovation and technological development with the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. The document was signed on May 15, 2018, at the 2018 Atomexpo forum, and suggested ways to support the creation and development of nuclear infrastructure, nuclear medicine and the application of radiation technologies in agriculture and sector of industry in Serbia.

The two countries have also developed cooperation in the defense industry sector. At the end of December 2016, the head of the Serbian government, currently the president, Vucic, following a meeting in Moscow with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, announced that Russia would give six MiG-29 fighter jets, 30 T-72S tanks and 30 BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicles to Serbia as part of military technical assistance. The ceremonial handover of MiG-29 fighter jets took place at Bataynitsa military airfield on October 20, 2017 on the Day of Belgrade's liberation in World War II.

A contract for the supply of multipurpose Mi-17V-5 helicopters was signed in September 2015. In June 2016, Russian Helicopters holding company performed the first delivery of helicopter assets to Serbia, handing over two multi-purpose Mi-17V-5 helicopters to the Serbian Defense Ministry.

In April 2018, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin announced that he had discussed with Shoigu the possibility of supplying four Mi-35 attack helicopters, four Mi-17 transport helicopters, T-72 and BMP-2 tanks along with certain types of other weapons from Russia.

In August 2018, a practical stage of the Russian-Serbian joint tactical drills with live-fire was held in Russia's Leningrad Region. During the active phase, the Russian and Serbian servicemen practiced joint actions on the deployment at defensive lines, engineering equipment along the troops advance routes, carried out electronic countermeasures and countered diversion groups.

Cultural and humanitarian ties are an important area of cooperation. In August 2014, the restored Russian Necropolis opened in Belgrade. In September 2014, the Serbian capital hosted joint commemoration events to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, under the auspices of Russian non-governmental organizations, the Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called and the Center of National Glory. In September-November 2014, the Russian Ministry of Culture held the Days of Russian Spiritual Culture in Serbia.

Since 2015, Russian foreign cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo has been the general coordinator of interior decoration works of the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade. In 2017, the Ascension mosaic was installed in the dome of the cathedral. The mosaic was created under the leadership of the Russian academician Nikolay Muhin. Some 90 Russian and Serbian artists participated in its production.

In 2015, Russia was the honorary guest at Belgrade's book fair.

Russia has repeatedly provided Serbia with humanitarian assistance, including on mine clearance. In 2012, the emergency response Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center was opened in the Serbian city of Nis.

Over the years of its existence, it has taken a number of very important operations, de-mining vast territories in Serbia, helping to eliminate the consequences of fires and floods in many countries of the region, including Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece.

The official visit of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Serbia on November 14-16, 2014, confirmed the close historic relations and spiritual bonds that exist between Moscow and Belgrade.

About 50,000 Russians visited Serbia in 2017. The flow of tourists from Russia to Serbia shows a steady annual increase of 14-20 percent. The number of Russian citizens visiting Serbia has increased fivefold over the past 10 years.