Vučić acknowledged that Serbia had resisted falling in line with the rest of Europe in putting sanctions on Russia but did say Belgrade had repeatedly condemned the invasion of Ukraine.
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00:00Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has denied having close links to his Russian counterpart
00:07Vladimir Putin.
00:09Speaking at the Globesec security conference in Prague, Vucic said he hadn't met or spoken
00:14to Putin in the more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine.
00:19Vucic acknowledged that Serbia had resisted falling in line with the rest of Europe in
00:23putting sanctions on Russia, but did say Belgrade had repeatedly condemned the invasion.
00:29Serbia and Turkey are the only EU candidate countries that have refused to impose sanctions.
00:34Vucic said he had had a great conversation with European Commission President Ursula
00:39von der Leyen, but admitted it was unlikely that Serbia would become an EU member state
00:43by 2028.
00:46Serbia became an EU candidate country in 2012, but has made little progress in the fields
00:51of rule of law and democratic reforms, which are the major preconditions for membership
00:56in the 27-nation bloc.
00:58Belgrade must also align its foreign policies with those of the EU, and that would include
01:03slapping sanctions on Russia.