Vucic: Next US president needs to forge truce in Ukraine

BELGRADE - The next US president needs to forge a truce in Ukraine, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has told Bloomberg in an interview.

Vucic said a proposal by the winner of the November 5 US presidential elections was the only way out of the conflict - now well into its third year - even though the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, might find that difficult to accept.

"Make a truce as soon as possible. Then there will be ways to reach long-term peace — but make this first step as soon as possible," Vucic said in the interview, conducted in Belgrade on Tuesday.

He added that a halt to the fighting would not only end the bloodshed but would be in the "very best interest of the West."

"Vucic has long maintained a balancing act between East and West. But he’s scaled back his ties with Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While Serbia hasn’t adopted Western sanctions targeting Moscow, it’s provided aid to Kyiv and condemned the Kremlin’s attack," Bloomberg said.

The US-based news agency noted that, earlier this month, Vucic and Putin had spoken by phone for the first time in two and a half years and that Vucic had told Putin he would not be able to accept his invitation to the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.

"It’s what gentlemen do, it’s what real men do" in such circumstances, even if the other side expects a different answer," Vucic was quoted as saying in the interview.

Vucic also said he had broached the subject of a ceasefire in Ukraine but that Putin had not appeared to be interested, saying that "all the goals of special military operations will be fulfilled."

Vucic said the discussion with Putin had also addressed Serbia’s three-year agreement on Russian gas supplies, which expires next year.

"Very soon we’ll have to start discussion, which is not going to be easy," Vucic said, adding that he would speak with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev next week to discuss available gas volumes.

"Then we’ll have a clear picture what we need to do with Russia," he said.