KYIV (Reuters) -Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to the Ukrainian city of Odesa for a regional summit on Wednesday, the first time the Moscow-friendly leader has visited the country during his 12 years in power.
In a statement, Vucic’s office said he would travel to Ukraine for one day to take part in the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe Summit in the Black Sea port of Odesa, which this week faced a major Russian drone and missile attack.
Senior politicians from 12 Southeastern European nations were expected to take part in the summit.
Serbia wants to join the European Union, but Russia, a traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally, remains its biggest gas supplier, and the country’s sole oil refinery is majority-owned by Gazprom and Gazprom Neft.
Although Belgrade has refused to join Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, it has condemned Moscow’s policies in the United Nations and expressed support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Vucic has also previously met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at least three times.
Belgrade recognises Ukraine in its entirety, including territories seized by Russia since 2014, while Kyiv refused to recognise the 2008 independence of Kosovo, Serbia’s predominantly Albanian former southern province.
In late May, the SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service, accused Belgrade of “a stab in the back”, alleging Serbia’s defence manufacturers were selling ammunition and weapons to Ukraine via intermediaries.
The only Serbian president to visit Ukraine since the Balkan country became independent in 2006 was Boris Tadic in 2011. Ukraine’s previous president, Petro Poroshenko, visited Serbia in 2018.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alex Richardson)
