"There is no country that can compare to Serbia in terms of the level of support for President Trump. ... And on the other hand, it is a country where President Putin is still very, very popular."
While most European countries remain on frosty terms with Russia since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a handful have retained varying degrees of positive diplomatic relations.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he had "learned unofficially" of the upcoming visit.
The Petroleum Industry of Serbia, primarily owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft and its parent company Gazprom, is Serbia’s exclusive gas supplier and controls the main pipelines delivering gas from Russia to Serbian households and industries.
Dusan Bajatovic, CEO of the Serbian state-owned company Srbijagas, came to an agreement with Alexey Miller, CEO of Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, and expects Russian gas supplies to reach 400 million cubic meters this winter.
"The European Union needs a strong and democratic Serbia at its side and Serbia needs a strong, sovereign Europe to defend its interests," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Aug. 29.
Belarusian opposition activist, journalist, and filmmaker Andrey Hnyot is awaiting a decision by the Serbian Court of Appeals on Belarus’ extradition request.
Interpol put Andrii Naumov, a former head of the internal security department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), on the international wanted list at Ukraine's request, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said on Aug. 28.
The three men are accused of "taking out confidential business-technical documentation from this company without authorisation and handing it over to a foreign organization," Serbian police said in a statement quoted by AFP.
Serbian-Ukrainian relationships are complicated by Belgrade's friendly attitude toward Russia, as Serbia has refused to join sanctions against Moscow.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, and his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric.
Although the bureau did not name the suspect, details of the case point to the former head of the SBU's internal security department, Andrii Naumov, who fled Ukraine in 2022 and was subsequently detained in Serbia for money laundering.
Andrii Naumov pleaded not guilty to the charges raised against him, but his lawyers confirmed that at the time of his detention, the ex-SBU official was carrying cash in a larger amount than permitted while crossing the border.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has been using a Serbian national named Novica Antic to infiltrate EU institutions and spread pro-Kremlin views, Politico reported on March 5, citing Western intelligence briefs they had reviewed.
The former head of the SBU's internal security department was detained in Serbia in 2022 after fleeing Ukraine. The High Court of Nis convicted Naumov of money laundering, sentencing him to one year in prison in September 2023.
