In an interview with the MD MEETS podcast on Aug. 10, Serbian President Alexander Vucic said that Europe is “on the edge of a bigger war.” Asked whether he thinks that in five years we will have peace or a bigger war, Vucic answered: “If you ask me, what I think personally: I think we are at beginning of a bigger war, and that is why I was hoping that someone else would have done something so far to create a peace; it didn’t happen and it won’t happen soon which means that we are on the edge of a much much bigger war.”
Vucic appeared on TV on Sunday, announcing early elections “very soon,” as demanded by the “blokaderi” (blockaders), the “anti-corruption” protest movement that has swept the country in recent months.
Vucic responded to critics of his recent meeting with Zelensky by saying that Serbia has been historically friendly to both Russia and Ukraine, and in the specifics, he and Zelensky discussed cooperation after the war. He believes that when Putin has conquered the entire Donbass, he will be ready to end the war.
Vucic said that he pursues Serbia’s interests, which, in his view, are: join the EU, and develop good relations with Russia, China, India and other countries (at the moment, an impossibility.) He also has a somewhat primitive economic view: “We Europeans are left behind because we work less than the Chinese and the Americans,” he said.
