Russia–Serbia relations

Serbian-Russian relations

Serbia	Russia

Serbian-Russian relations refer to bilateral foreign relations between Serbia and Russia. Serbia and Russia maintain diplomatic relations since 1838.

Serbia has an embassy in Moscow and Russia has an embassy in Belgrade and a liaison office to UNMIK in Pristina. Current Russian Ambassador to Serbia is Alexander V. Konuzin and the current Serbian Ambassador to Russia is Jelica Kurjak. Serbia also announced to later open a consulate-general in Yekaterinburg.

Yugoslavia recognized Russia in December 1991 by the Decision of the Presidency on the recognition of the former republics of the USSR. Diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR were established on June 24, 1940, and Serbia and the Russian Federation recognize the continuity of all inter-State documents signed between the two countries. There are about 70 bilateral treaties, agreements and protocols signed in the past. Serbia and the Russian Federation have signed and ratified 43 bilateral agreements and treaties iprin diverse areas of mutual cooperation so far.

According to 2002 census there were 2,588 Russians living in Serbia. According to 2002 census there were 4,156 Serbs living in Russia.

A poll made by Marsh in 2003. shows that 93.68% of Serbs see Russia as a traditional friend.

Political relations

Embassy of Serbia in Moscow

Meeting between Boris Tadić and Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 in Moscow when the deal regarding the South Stream construction was sealed

Boris Tadić and Dmitry Medvedev with war veterans during the celebrations for the 65th anniversary of the Belgrade Offensive in October 2009

Dmitry Medvedev received the Order of the Saint Sava of the First Degree – the highest honor given by Serbian Orthodox Church

Dmitry Medvedev was the first foreign official to speak in front of the National Assembly of Serbia

Highest level visits of Serbian officials to Russia include President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Koštunica meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in October 2000, visit by the Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić in February 2001, visit by the Federal Prime Minister Zoran Žižić in April 2001, visit by the President Vladimir Putin to Belgrade and Pristina in June 2001, visit by the Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica to Sochi in June 2004, President of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marović attended the 60th anniversary of Victory Day in 2005, President Boris Tadić and the Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica attended the National Exhibition of Serbia in Moscow in November 2005, visit by the Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica to Saint Petersburg in May 2006, visit by the Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica to Saint Petersburg in June 2007, visit by the President Boris Tadić and the Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica to Moscow in January 2008, visit by the President Boris Tadić to Moscow in December 2008, visit by the President Dmitry Medvedev to Belgrade in October 2009.

Visits by other high officials such as Ministers of Foreign Affairs or Chairmen of Parliaments are held on average once a month.

Kosovo

Russia backs Serbia's position regarding Kosovo. Vladimir Putin said that any support for Kosovo's unilateral declaration is immoral and illegal. He described the recognition of Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence by several major world powers as "a terrible precedent" that "breaks up the entire system of international relations" that have taken "centuries to evolve", and "undoubtedly, it may entail a whole chain of unpredictable consequences to other regions in the world" that will come back to hit the West "in the face". During an official state visit to Serbia following the declaration, Russian President-elect Dmitry Medvedev reiterated support for Serbia and its stance on Kosovo. However, his visit was accompanied by a scandal around the offensive comments about Zoran Đinđić made by Russian TV host Konstantin Syomin in Russian state-run TV news.

Russia has also said that the March 2008 riots in Tibet were linked with the recognition by some states of the independence of Serbia's breakaway province, Kosovo. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with a Russian newspaper, also linked the demands for greater autonomy by ethnic Albanians in Macedonia with the Kosovo issue. Lavrov said, "There are grounds to presume that this is not occurring by chance. You can see what is happening in Tibet, how the separatists there are acting. The Albanians in Macedonia are already demanding a level of autonomy that is a clear step toward independence. Furthermore, events in other areas of the world give us grounds to assume that we are only at the beginning of a very precarious process".

On March 23 Vladimir Putin ordered urgent humanitarian aid for Kosovo Serb enclaves. Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, opposed the Russian plan for sending aid to Kosovo Serbs. He stated that Russia could only send aid if it was agreed and coordinated with Government in Pristina.

On July 15, President Dmitry Medvedev stated in a major foreign policy speech "For the EU, Kosovo is almost what Iraq is to the United States.... This is the latest example of the undermining of international law".

On 29 May 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev described Serbia as a "key partner" for Russia in Southeast Europe and announced "We intend to continue to coordinate our foreign police moves in future, including the ones related to the solving of the issue with Kosovo".

Russian ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Konuzin told a Belgrade daily in June 2009 that "Russia's stand is rather simple — we are ready to back whatever position Serbia takes (with regards to Kosovo)."

Recent bilateral meetings

Dates	Visit
October 2000	Meeting between the Federal President, Vojislav Koštunica and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow
January 2001	Visit by the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Goran Svilanović, to Moscow
February 2001	Visit by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Igor Sergeyev, to Belgrade
February 2001	Visit by the Federal Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Miroljub Labus, to Moscow
March 2001	Visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russian, Igor Ivanov, to Belgrade
March 2001	Visit by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, Vladimir Rushailo, to Belgrade
April 2001	Visit by the Federal Prime Minister, Zoran Žižić, to Moscow
June 2001	Visit by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to Belgrade and Pristina and meeting with Federal President Vojislav Koštunica and Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić
November 2001	Visit by the Federal Minister of Defense, Slobodan Krapović, to Moscow
December 2001	Visit by the Federal Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Miroljub Labus, to Moscow
February 2002	Visit by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, Nebojša Čović, to Moscow
February 2002	Visit by a delegation of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, to Belgrade
March 2002	Visit by a delegation of the State Duma, to Belgrade
May 2002	Visit by the Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Razov, to Belgrade
June 2002	Visit by the Russian Minister for Trade and Economic Development German Gref, to Belgrade
June 2002	Visit by the Mayoress of Belgrade, Radmila Hrustanović, to Moscow
August 2002	Visit by the President of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Primakov
September 2002	Visit by the RF Minister of Culture, Michael Shvidkoy, on the occasion of the Opening Ceremony of the Days of Russian Culture in Serbia and Montenegro
September 2002	Meeting between Federal President Vojislav Koštunica and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov at the Earth Summit 2002 held in Johannesburg
February 2003	Visit by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, Nebojša Čović, to Moscow
April 2003	Visit by Foreign Minister Svilanović, to Moscow
May 2003	Visit by the Speaker of the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro, Dragoljub Mićunović, to Moscow
September 2003	Visit by Rasim Ljajić, Minister for Human and Minority Rights of Serbia, to Moscow
September 2003	Visit by Vojislav Milovanović, Serbian Minister of Religion, to Moscow
September 2003	Visit by Anđelka Mihajlov, Minister for the Protection of Natural Resources and the Environment of Serbia, to Moscow
November 2003	Visit by Božidar Đelić, Minister of Finance and Economy, to Moscow
March 2004	Visit by the Minister for Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, Sergey Shoigu, to Belgrade
May 2004	Visit by the Minister of Trade and Tourism Bojan Dimitrijević to Moscow, signing of the Memorandum on Trade and Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the city of Moscow
June 2004	Meeting between Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Koštunica and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in Sochi
June 2004	Visit by Foreign Minister Vuk Drašković to the Russian Federation.
June 2004	Visit by Defence Minister Prvoslav Davinić to the Russian Federation.
June 2004	Visit by the President of State Duma of the Russian Federation, Boris Gryzlov, to Serbia and Montenegro.
March 2005	Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Cooperation in the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachov visited Serbia and Montenegro.
April 2005	Russian President’s Special Envoy for Cooperation on International Terrorism and Organised Crime Anatoly Safonov visited Serbia and Montenegro.
April 2005	Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov visited Belgrade to attend the Contact Group meeting.
April 2005	Speaker of the Parliament Zoran Šami visited the Russian Federation and participated at the International Parliamentary Conference in Saint Petersburg.
May 2005	Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marović visited the Russian Federation to attend the ceremonies to mark the 60th anniversary of Victory Day on 9 May in Moscow.
May 2005	Visit by the Head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, Nebojša Čović, to Moscow
May 2005	President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Slobodan Milosavljević visited the Russian Federation.
November 2005	Speaker of the Parliament Zoran Šami visited the Russian Federation.
November 2005	Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Belgrade.
November 2005	Meeting between the President of Serbia, Boris Tadić and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow
November 2005	Foreign Minister Vuk Drašković visited the Russian Federation
November 2005	Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica visited the Russian Federation in his capacity as sponsor of the National Exhibition of Serbia in Moscow.
May 2006	Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica met with Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg
August 2006	Visit by Sergey Shoigu to Serbia.
April 2007	Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov took part in OSCE meeting in Belgrade
June 2007	Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić visited Moscow.
June 2007	Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica met with Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg
July 2007	Chairman of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov visited Serbia
November 2007	Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov visited Belgrade
November 2007	Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić visited Moscow
January 2008	Serbian President Boris Tadić and Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica visited Moscow
February 2008	First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Belgrade
July 2008	Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić visited Moscow
June 2008	Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić met with the Russian Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
November 2008	Co-Presidents of the Joint Serbian-Russian Committee for Economic Cooperation Sergey Shoigu and Ivica Dačić met in Moscow.
December 2008	President of the National Assembly of Serbia Slavica Đukić Dejanović visited Moscow
December 2008	President of Serbia Boris Tadić visited Moscow
February 2009	Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić visited Moscow and signed mutual visa waiver program
October 2009	Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić visited Moscow
October 2009	President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev visited Belgrade to attend the ceremony to mark the liberation of Belgrade in WW II
February 2010	Deputy speaker of the Duma Alexander Babakov visited Belgrade
May 2010	President of Serbia Boris Tadić visited Moscow to attend the ceremonies to mark the 65th anniversary of Victory Day on 9 May

Economic relations

Russia is an important partner in Serbia's economic cooperation with the world and is in first place in terms of trade volume, in first place in terms of import and in fifth place in terms of export. Commodity trade between the two countries in 2007 increased over that in 2006 and amounted to more than US$ 3,077 billion. Exports from Serbia amounted to US$ 451,5 million, while its imports amounted to US$ 2,625 billion.

Energy sources (oil, oil products and gas making up 83.5 per cent on the import side), raw materials and machine-building products account for the preponderant part of imports from the Russian Federation, while Serbia exports pharmaceutical products, flooring, machines, equipment, food, textiles and other consumer goods.

Culture and education

Russian Orthodox Church in Tašmajdan park, Belgrade

Yugoslavia and the Russian Federation signed the Agreement on cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Education, Science and Sports on July 19, 1995. Based on this Agreement a Program of Cooperation in the Areas of Education, Science and Culture was signed in December 2001 for the period 2002-2004. The Days of Culture of the Russian Federation were held in Serbia and Montenegro in 2002 and those of Serbia and Montenegro in the Russian Federation in 2003.

The Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Belgrade opened on April 9, 1933. Popular name of the centre is Russian Home.

See also

• Foreign relations of Serbia
• Foreign relations of Russia
• Embassy of Serbia in Moscow

External links

• Embassy of Russia in Belgrade
• Embassy of Serbia in Moscow
• The Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Belgrade
• Russian language news site on Serbia
• Association of Serbian and Montenegrin students in Russia
• Template:Sr icon Часовник Лазара Србина