EU fueling turmoil as its influence wanes – Belgrade

The bloc’s exclusion from the Ukraine talks shows it has “lost its superpower status,” Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has told RT

The EU is instigating regional conflicts and fueling turmoil in a bid to reclaim its diminished global influence, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has stated.

Vulin made the remarks in an interview with RT on Friday while commenting on the Ukraine conflict and the EU’s exclusion from the US-Russia peace talks. He also touched on the growing regional tensions.

“The EU has completely lost its position as a superpower,” he said, arguing that the bloc no longer has a place “at the table” with the US and Russia on key global issues such as the Ukraine conflict.

“How can you reclaim your position as a great power?” Vulin continued. “By trying to make some kind of turmoil, trying to create some kind of conflict that you can control, and that’s it.” 

He pointed to recent anti-government protests in Serbia and the conviction of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik by a court in Sarajevo as examples of the EU’s efforts to maintain its influence.

“They must show that they’re capable of doing something like that,” Vulin said.

Reflecting on the EU’s sidelining in peace negotiations, he added: “You see what happens when you are not free. You don’t have your own politics … Someone else tells you what you should do.”

The Serbian deputy prime minister also criticized Western support for Ukraine, calling it “kind of strange” that the “so-called democratic governments are pro-war.”

He recalled a recent remark by US President Donald Trump that the conflict between Moscow and Kiev should have been avoided in the first place.

Trump has blamed Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for failing to resolve the hostilities, saying he had years to do so and adding that he “should’ve never started it.”

According to Vulin, Russia and the US should work toward an agreement to restore peace, but he questioned the EU’s role in ending the conflict.

He also accused the West of “hypocrisy” over sanctions, suggesting the EU might face a dilemma if Trump moves forward with plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

READ MORE: Bosnian Serb leader sentenced to prison

European politicians, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, were strongly against Trump during the US election campaign but are now travelling to the White House.

“They called him all these different names – idiot, fascist, corrupt, et cetera, et cetera. Putin puppet and who, God knows who else,” he said, questioning their current approach and describing it as “clash of ideology.”

Trump, Vulin added, is capable of telling them: “Try to clean up your own mess. You do that.”