Russians living in Serbia are generally opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This statement was made by the president of this country, Aleksandar Vucic, writes the Politika newspaper from a press conference following a meeting between Vucic and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
The Serbian leader added that Ukrainians living in Serbia are mostly Russian-speaking, and they support the Russian head of state.
Vucic estimated the number of Russians in his country at 45-50 thousand. Moreover, earlier, in November 2022, he stated that more than one hundred thousand Russians had arrived in Serbia since February 24. 17 thousand of them received a residence permit, the rest remained in the country as tourists or moved on, he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
However, these data differ from other estimates. Thus, RBC, with reference to the Blic newspaper, clarifies that since February 2022, 150 thousand Russian citizens have immigrated to Serbia, while by May 2023, 30 thousand Russians had a residence permit in Serbia. The Serbian Commissariat for Refugees clarified that from February 24, 2022 to February 24, 2023, about 148 thousand citizens of Ukraine entered Serbia, of which about 26 thousand received a residence permit.
Previously, the Serbian president complained that external pressure was increasing on Serbia due to military operations in Ukraine. At the same time, he added that he does not want to impose sanctions against Russia because of moral principles.
Source: Rosbalt
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