Ministry of Foreign Affairs accuses Serbian president of lying

EVROPEYSKA PRAVDA  —  MONDAY, 18 APRIL 2022, 13:42

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the accusations made by the President of Serbia about Ukraine's involvement in reports of the mining of Serbian planes are not true.

This was stated in a comment to "Evropeyska Pravda" by Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.

"We categorically reject the baseless accusations made by the President of Serbia. His allegations of Ukraine's alleged involvement in reports that Serbian airlines flying to Russia had been mined are untrue", he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also expressed disappointment that Serbia has not yet joined the EU sanctions imposed on Russia over its unprovoked war against Ukraine.

"Every day Russia hits Ukrainian cities with missiles and bombs, kills civilians, and destroys civilian infrastructure. Tough sanctions and the unity of the democratic world can stop this war. We call on Belgrade to stand up for the truth and fully support Ukraine and uphold the values on which a united democratic Europe was established," the spokesman said.

Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that two countries were behind the reports of the mining of Serbian planes flying to Russia: one is allegedly a member of the EU, the other Ukraine.

Vučić said Serbia would continue to operate flights to Russia, despite the reports.

Serbia is not a member of the EU and has refused to impose sanctions on Russia for the war in Ukraine, but its planes are free to cross EU airspace. This made the Balkan country the only European air corridor that remained open to Russia.

The mostly state-owned Air Serbia had initially doubled the number of direct flights from Moscow to Belgrade to 15 a week to meet rapidly growing demand. However, due to sharp criticism, Serbia has returned to the pre-war number of flights to Russia.