BELGRADE – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused Ukraine and an unidentified EU country of being behind a series of fake bomb threats against Air Serbia planes.
Since Russia began invading Ukraine in late February, more than a dozen Air Serbia flights have been forced to return to Belgrade or Moscow due to bomb threats, and Belgrade airport has been evacuated at least three times.
“That’s what foreign (secret) services from two countries do. One is an EU country, the other is Ukraine,” Vucic said late Sunday, without providing any evidence.
In a statement, Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, dismissed Vucic’s remarks as “unfounded” and “untrue”.
He also said Ukraine was disappointed with Serbia’s refusal to join EU sanctions against Russia.
“We urge Belgrade to stand up for the truth and fully join in supporting Ukraine and upholding the values on which the united democratic Europe is founded,” it said.
Serbia, an EU candidate country, is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas and oil. It opposes sanctions against the Kremlin and maintains regular flights to Moscow.
“We continue these flights literally on principle because we want to show that we are a free country and make our own decisions,” Vucic said.
“Don’t decide for us when flights are canceled.”
In recent weeks, Belgrade has three times voted in favor of UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and suspending it from the main UN human rights body.
Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a special military operation to denazify the country.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie)