Bocan-Harcenko: Russia will not change its position regarding Kosovo and the Republic of Srpska

The Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandar Bocan-Harcenko, emphasized that Moscow will not change its stance on the most painful Serbian issues—Kosovo and the Republic of Srpska.

"Regarding the most painful issues for Serbia, primarily Kosovo, but also the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the Republic of Srpska, it is impossible to consider that Russia might change its stance of support for Serbia, support for the Republic of Srpska. As for Kosovo, we will continue to work together, primarily at the UN," Bocan-Harcenko told Tanjug.

He stated that Serbia can be proud of its achievements in the field of economics, and emphasized that he expects that growth will continue in 2025 and that Russia will contribute to it.

The economy is the most important thing, said Ambassador Bocan-Harcenko regarding how he sees Serbia, bilateral relations, and the global situation in 2025.

He stresses that he sees 2025 as both interesting and complicated, but not in the case of Serbia, which has shown good results in the field of economics.

"In any case, the economy is the foundation of development in every sense, and Serbia has shown good results, reliable development, and as far as the economy is concerned, the President of Serbia and the government have quite serious reasons to be proud. Because of this quite stable development and trend, I think Serbia will continue on this path," said Bocan-Harcenko, emphasizing that he would include thoughts on Serbian-Russian relations in his response.

As he added, cooperation between the two countries in the field of economics is part of development and perhaps very essential.

"In terms of energy, quite favorable energy prices are encouraging and have enabled, and I hope, will enable good development both in industry and energy for households, for citizens," said Bocan-Harcenko, stressing that energy is still the most important thing.

The Ambassador emphasized that Russia wants to continue the campaign related to investments and the realization of projects in Serbia.

He reminded that at the end of November, a session of the intergovernmental Serbian-Russian commission for cooperation was held, which confirmed a number of projects for the next year.

"In any case, next year will be the year of the beginning of the realization of some projects, including those related to the railway - RZD very much wants to continue working in Serbia regardless of having numerous large projects and work 'over its head' because Serbia is important to it," he stated.

At the same time, he expressed confidence that energy companies Gazprom, Gazprom Neft would be a very important part of Serbia's development in the field of economics.

"If the economy is okay, there will be earnings and employment and wage increases, and the social sphere will live in a better way and in such a situation, in such an atmosphere, the internal situation must calm down - protests," said Bocan-Harcenko, assessing that the protests, as mentioned by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs based on the information and data available, are inspired by external factors.

He added that there are NGOs, Western, and some other institutions and circles that obviously do not want to see a stable Serbia.

He says that unfortunately, he believes that their activities will continue next year.

"But a strong economy, stable development, stable social sphere, all this will not give them the opportunity to undermine social and political stability in Serbia," emphasized Bocan-Harcenko, stressing that he is convinced of the continuation of cooperation with Serbia which, as he said, does not support and does not want to introduce sanctions against Russia.

The President of Serbia and the government are, as he adds, quite clear regarding sanctions against Russia, which provides good space for continued cooperation.

Regarding the global situation, he says that despite New Year's and Christmas wishes, one must still be realistic.

"Unfortunately, when the New Year comes, every person, especially us of Orthodox tradition, enter this time with new hopes and we must have hope, but at the same time, we must stay within realistic limits. There are hopes, but I would not say too great for this year to come to some talks, but of course, it is hard to imagine that there is some magic wand or a magical formula that can solve all the accumulated issues, because they are difficult and the whole world is on the edge.

But in any case, if there are some talks, first and foremost, the most important and crucial issue is European security," said the ambassador.

Bocan-Harcenko emphasized that the situation in Ukraine can be resolved within or in the context of an acceptable solution that respects Russia's interests, European security issues, and establishing guaranteed equality and security.

In this context, the issue in Ukraine can be resolved at its core, emphasized the ambassador, adding that solutions like ceasefires and temporary truces are not solutions because they only provide the possibility for the preparation of a new wave of war.

We hope that the direction of some possible contacts will go towards fundamentally resolving the most important issues and issues of European security, which has been severely compromised.