RFE: Serbia supports EU’s Declaration against Belarus

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Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported on Friday that Belgrade supported the European Union Declaration against Belarus' decision to redirect Rayan Air flight to Minsk and arrest journalist Roman Protasevich.

EU adopted the Declaration on May 24, allowing the member states and candidate countries to join later, RFE said.

It added official Belgrade had not published the decision and the EU had not confirmed it either.

RFS said that an EU webpage was updated on June 9 and that it could mean Serbia adjusted its stand on that day at the latest.

It is not clear if the support of the Declaration also meant the support of the announced sanctions.

EU Declaration says the redirection of the plane and the arrest was yet another Belarus’ regime attempt to silence all opposition voices.

It also called on Protasevich’s urgent release and an international probe into the incident.

Besides Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania were the Western Balkans’ countries that supported the Declaration.

Serbia also supported the EU Declaration against Belarus in 2020, which said the country’s citizens „showed wish for democratic changes,“ but that the presidential elections last year „were neither free nor fair.“

However, RFE recalled that Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic then said she hoped Belarus’ President Aleksandar Lukashenko „won’t be angry“ with Serbia.

Russia currently hosts joint military exercise ‘Slav Brotherhood 2021’ with Belarus and Serbia.