World leaders no longer working toward peace – Serbian president

Munich Security Conference participants acted like “football fans” instead of looking for solutions, Aleksandar Vucic has argued

The international community is no longer interested in ending conflicts, and instead views peace as an “unwanted” ideal, President Aleksandar Vucic has claimed in an interview with TASS published on Tuesday.  

His comments follow last week’s annual Munich Security Conference, which saw senior officials and heads of states from all over the world gather in the German city to debate international security issues, including the Ukraine conflict. 

Vucic noted that he has participated in the forum numerous times, using the opportunity to gauge “how the Western world thinks” and its willingness to listen to varying opinions, including from smaller nations.  

This year, however, Vucic said he did not hear any innovative suggestions toward resolving conflicts, describing the conference participants as behaving like “football fans.” The Serbian leader said he had concluded that the word “peace” appears to have become “unloved and unwanted throughout the world.” 

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At the same time, he argued that despite the shifts in global politics, everything possible must be done to protect freedom and the right to make independent decisions in line with the interests of the people. 

Vucic also told TASS that Serbia intends to maintain its policy of rejecting pressure from the West to impose sanctions on Moscow, arguing that this would be “unfair to the Russian people,” whom he described as friendly to the Serbs. 

Vucic noted that Belgrade has officially condemned Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine, although Serbia remains the only country in Eastern Europe – aside from Belarus – that has not imposed sanctions in light of the Ukraine conflict. Vucic admitted that he does not know how long he will be able to hold out against Western pressure, but stressed that his country will defend its position for “as long as possible.”