'I was tired' — Serbia's president apologizes for accidentally backing Ukraine's UN resolution
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Serbia erroneously voted in favor of a Ukrainian resolution at the U.N. General Assembly calling Russia an aggressor state, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Feb. 24, RTS reported.
The U.N. General Assembly approved the resolution on Feb. 24 condemning Russia's full-scale invasion, with 93 countries voting in favor and 18 against, including the U.S.
Serbia was supposed to abstain from voting on the Ukrainian resolution, Vucic said.
"I believe that Serbia made a mistake today. I apologize to the citizens of Serbia for that, and I take the blame for that because I was probably tired and overwhelmed," he said.
"I didn't have time to deal with this (issue) enough, maybe I'm too tired, maybe I have too many things (to deal with)... I don't think we should pander to any power, neither Russians nor Americans. I think it was in the interest of the state of Serbia. Unfortunately, it didn't happen," he added.
Serbia maintains a friendly attitude toward Russia and has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, Vucic has called Ukraine a "friendly country" and previously affirmed that Crimea and Donbas are Ukrainian sovereign territories.
Vucic expected his vote error would also result in him "losing favor or political points in the EU."
The Ukrainian resolution explicitly names Russia as the aggressor state and demands the complete withdrawal of troops.
The American version of the resolution did not explicitly mention Russia as an aggressor, but after amendments from the EU countries, the document included the wording "Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine." The U.S. abstained from voting after these changes, while Russia opposed it.
Both resolutions were adopted.
Later on Feb. 25, the Slovak National Party demanded that Prime Minister Robert Fico immediately apologize for the mistake, Czech news outlet Denik N reported on Feb. 25.
The Slovak National Party stated that an investigation should determine who authorized the Slovak representative at the UN to vote in this manner.
The party also emphasized that Slovakia must uphold a consistent stance, and insisted that its representatives in international institutions should not vote against the policies set by Fico’s government and backed by the Slovak National Party.
"It is important that the Slovak Republic maintains its position and a clear stance, as Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, does,” the statement said.
"If the government declares something, it is unthinkable that our representatives in international institutions would vote contrary to the policy advocated by the government led by Robert Fico with the support of the Slovak National Party."
