European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos announced at a conference in Freiburg that the European Union has suspended all payments to Serbia under the development plan due to the country's judicial policies.

“We have currently suspended all payments under the development plan because there is another backsliding in the judicial system. Until this is corrected, the country cannot receive EU financial support,” she stated.

On April 10, Politico reported that the EU was considering suspending up to €1.5 billion in financial aid to Serbia over a systemic “backsliding” of democratic reforms and close cooperation with Russia.

On April 23, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that the EU's demands on Serbia are allegedly aimed at “pushing it into confrontation with Russia.” He asserted that the EU is making severance of ties with Russia a condition for Serbia's membership.

Last September in Beijing, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, after meeting Vladimir Putin, reiterated that Belgrade would maintain neutrality toward Russia and remains the only European country that has not imposed sanctions on Russia.

Source: www.gazeta.uz