BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. The West should respect the decision of Serbia as a state and Serbians as a people, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a weekly briefing, Trend reports.
"The period of balancing by the West must end. If Serbia is a sovereign state recognized as such by the West, then the West must respect the decision of Serbia as a state and Serbians as a people. If the West does not respect Serbia as a sovereign state and does not respect Serbs and Serbian citizens as a people, then the West must give up on the idea that democracy and freedom are something inviolable for it. Therefore, it is not Serbia that is balancing, but the West, and it is balancing very dangerously. This is manipulation, this is staged respect for the sovereignty of states," she said.
Mass riots broke out in Belgrade on the night of December 25. Supporters of the opposition, the "Serbia Against Violence" bloc disagreed with the victory of the coalition led by the ruling party in the election to the city assembly of the capital.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the protests an attempt to "destroy the independence, autonomy and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia" and promised that they would not have any result - after all, "power is only changed in election".
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