Vucic: Serbia one of few countries able to speak truth

NEW YORK - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday after addressing the UN General Assembly that Serbia was one of the few countries that were able to speak the truth and say how things really stood.

"Our duty was to speak the truth so that it goes down in history, and so that it is a source of pride for our people, that we are one of the few countries and one of the few peoples that were able to speak the truth and say how things really stand," Vucic told reporters in New York.

"Will that contribute to anything? No, but, in a sense, it will definitely strengthen the position of the Republic of Serbia, so that they know that we know, and that they understand fully well, that we understand and that they should not be trying to get something that is not possible, thinking that we do not grasp or understand what the situation is about," he said.

He noted that the position of those who invoked international law only when it suited them to would not change.

He said he was proud of Serbia's independent policy and added that "different times are coming."

He noted that the "bugbear of freedom and independence was spreading in the world" and that that had been heard in the speeches of some leaders in the UNGA.

"The wind of freedom, the smell of freedom is slowly becoming felt everywhere in the world. The bugbear of freedom and independence is spreading around the world again and stopping that will not be an easy thing to do," Vucic concluded.