MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow respected Serbia's wish to join the European Union and did not see it as an obstacle to wide-ranged cooperation between the two countries.
"We respect the decision of the Serbian government to join the EU and unlike Western partners we are not forcing Belgrade to choose between Russia and the EU," he said.
Putin spoke with Serbian newspapers ahead of his trip to the Balkan country. He said he believed that Serbia's decision to become closer to the European Union would not hinder "multifaceted cooperation" between Moscow and Belgrade.�
"We have been supplying [Serbia] with military equipment and weapons and assisting in their maintenance... We will continue developing this military-technical cooperation," the Russian president promised.
