Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Serbian journalists in Moscow that the Kremlin is sure that official Belgrade will continue its smart choices over the war in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Minister said that Moscow respects the Serbian people and its commitment to traditional friendships. “We are certain that they will continue taking the smart choice in this situation,” he said.

According to Lavrov, pressure is being brought to bear on Serbia over Ukraine. “We see the United States trying to impose its hegemony in the Balkans,” Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti quoted him as saying.

He said that the goal of the sanctions imposed by the West is to suppress Russia strategically. “The only surprising thing at this stage is the explosion of primitive Rusophobia which the western leaders are actively fanning,” he said, adding that there is no isolation of Russia. “That is only mentioned by people who have mentally resigned themselves to the dictatorship of the West,” he added.

“The West is trying to isolate the Russian Federation through the math of the results of the UN vote. We know the blackmail those countries are exposed to. To us that only means one thing – the US is afraid of isolation,” he said.

Lavrov said that Moscow wants an agreement on Ukraine to include demilitarization and de-Nazification. “Look at how Russian prisoners are being treated by the people in Nazi battalion Azov,” he said.