‘Idiotic’ to think Russia can be isolated – Serbian Deputy PM to RT

Trying to isolate Russia is “stupid” and impossible because the country represents a set of values that are in great demand in the modern world, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has said.

The push by the West to sanction and contain Moscow during the Ukrainian conflict is a “loser” policy, Vulin said, in an exclusive interview with RT on the sidelines of BRICS 2024 Summit in Kazan on Thursday.

"It is stupid. It is hard to find a better word. It is stupid. It is idiotic [to] imagine that you can isolate Russia,” he said.

According to the deputy PM, the proof of that is the summit in Kazan, to which “over or around 40 delegations” have arrived. “Probably the most important countries from the East came and showed respect to the Russian presidency of BRICS,” he said.

Isolating Moscow is “not possible, not just because Russia is a nuclear superpower, but [because] Russia represents a system of values that is needed by the world. So, you cannot isolate that kind of country,” Vulin argued.

Those values are “God, nation, family,” he said, arguing that these shared “natural values” are why Russian President Vladimir Putin is popular among some Westerners.

Vulin explained that Belgrade, which is not a member of the economic group, sent its delegation to the summit in Kazan because BRICS is “changing the world… and Serbia wants to be part of that new world. The death of unilateralism has already happened, and Serbia wants to be part of any kind of hope that BRICS has offered to humanity.”

BRICS can offer Serbia a lot but, at the same time, the group is “not imposing on us any political pressure,” he said. “No one from BRICS will ever ask, for instance, that we impose sanctions on the EU,” the deputy PM said, referring to repeated demands by Brussels for Belgrade to join the Western campaign of economic restrictions against Moscow.

According to Vulin, the Serbian people will likely decide in a referendum in two or three years on whether their country would keep pursuing membership of the EU or try to join BRICS.

Watch the full interview here.