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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s Interior Minister met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday in Moscow in a rare visit by a European state official, underscoring Belgrade’s refusal to join Western sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine.

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Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin, who is known for his pro-Russian and anti-Western stance, said he told Lavrov during their meeting that “Serbia is the only state in Europe that has not introduced sanctions and was not part of the anti-Russian policy”. hysteria.”

Serbia, which is officially seeking membership in the European Union, has for years steered away from its path to the EU and towards traditional Slavic ally Russia, as well as China.

Vulin is considered the “man from Moscow” in the Serbian government.

Vulin advocated the creation of the “Serbian world” which would unite all Balkan Serbs under one flag led by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Vulin said that Serbia should abandon its goal of EU membership and turn to Moscow instead, and he often lambasted Serbia’s neighbors and their leaders, calling them derogatory names.

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Last year, Vulin created a “task force” with Nikolai Patrushev, the powerful Kremlin Security Council secretary, to fight “color revolutions” – a series of mass protests that have sometimes led to the overthrow of regimes in the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia.

Serbian independent media reported that during their meeting in Moscow late last year, Vulin handed Patrushev wiretaps of a meeting in Belgrade held by members of the Russian opposition. It was difficult for opposition groups to organize meetings in Russia, so they chose Belgrade because they do not need a visa to enter Serbia.

Soon after, some of those who attended the Belgrade meeting were arrested in Russia. Vulin unconvincingly denied handing over the tapes to Patrushev.

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Serbian opposition officials have questioned the purpose of Vulin’s visit to Moscow as a new Serbian government is about to be formed – long-awaited after April’s general election. Most believe that his trip to Russia was organized by Moscow in order to pressure Belgrade into including him in the new cabinet.

Lavrov had planned to fly to Belgrade in June, but Serbia’s NATO neighbors refused to allow his plane to fly over their territory.

Vulin said in a statement from Moscow on Monday that he “deeply regrets that Minister Lavrov was prevented from visiting Belgrade in June by the will of other countries, stressing that by prohibiting Minister Lavrov’s official visit in Serbia, all the principles of international law have been violated”.