Diplomacy or Disaster? The Risks of the West’s Approach to Serbia’s Vucic

Western powers’ appeasement of Serbia’s autocratic regime contradicts democratic values, enabling Russian influence and threatening Balkan stability. It’s time for a principled recalibration.

In a dramatic showcase of misguided diplomacy, Western powers continue to appease Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a leader whose actions starkly contradict the democratic values the EU and the U.S. claim to uphold. Despite Vucic’s blatant alignment with Russian interests and his government's increasingly autocratic behaviour, the EU and the U.S. persist in offering financial support and diplomatic leniency, as if blind to the dangerous implications of such a stance.

Recent statements from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlight the deepening economic and military ties between Russia and Serbia, a relationship bolstered by Serbia's strategic reliance on Russian energy and military equipment. This alliance, framed as a part of Serbia’s so-called “military neutrality,” is, in reality, a thinly veiled extension of Kremlin influence in the Balkans. Serbian Deputy PM Aleksandar Vulin's sycophantic overtures to Vladimir Putin, including pledges that Serbia will never join NATO or sanction Russia, underscore the extent of Serbia’s fealty to Moscow. Vulin’s accusations of “ethnic cleansing” by Kosovo echo the Kremlin's false narratives used to justify aggression against Ukraine, yet Western powers remain unnervingly silent.

VIDEO: Serbia's Deputy PM Vulin to Putin:

"Serbia will never join NATO or impose sanctions on Russia. We have never been and will never be anti-Russian. Serbia is not just a strategic partner but an ally of Russia."