Russia highly values ​​Serbia’s “balanced foreign policy” and supports its efforts to protect its territorial integrity in the Kosovo dispute, President Vladimir Putin said in a letter to his Serbian counterpart, Reuters reported.

Russia is Serbia’s main ally in its opposition to the independence of its former province of Kosovo, and Belgrade has refused to comply with European Union sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, despite its ambitions to join the EU.

Belgrade has long performed a delicate balancing act between aspirations for EU membership and partnership with NATO, on the one hand, and centuries-old ethnic and religious ties with Russia.

But as tensions between the EU and Russia escalate, Western calls for Belgrade to join sanctions against Moscow and align its foreign policy with Brussels are growing louder.

“Serbia is an important and reliable partner of Russia,” Putin told President Aleksandar Vučić in a letter sent to the press by the Serbian president, in which the Kremlin leader congratulated Serbia on its Statehood Day, commemorating February 15, 1804, when the first Serbian uprising against the Turks took place .

Serbia criticized by Brussels

“We highly appreciate the balanced foreign policy course pursued by Belgrade in a difficult international environment. We support your efforts to protect your territorial integrity and resolve the Kosovo issue,” Putin wrote.

“I am convinced that the further development of the Russian-Serbian strategic partnership is in the best interests of our fraternal peoples,” the Kremlin leader said.

Serbia continues to support the refusal of 50,000 ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo to recognize the country’s 15th anniversary on Friday, 25 years after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against the repressive Serbian regime.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said Belgrade’s refusal to impose sanctions on its ally Russia remains the main obstacle to speeding up EU membership, describing the request as a “condition above all conditions” put forward by the bloc.

Despite the fact that Serbia has repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the UN and other international forums, Brussels has criticized Serbia for not formally imposing sanctions against Moscow.