Attending the meeting on the Russian side were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office – Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, State Duma Deputy Speaker, Special Presidential Representative for Interaction with Organisations of Compatriots Abroad Alexander Babakov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Economic Development, Russian Co-Chair of the Russian-Serbian Intergovernmental Committee on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, Chairman of the Board, CEO of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev, and Director General of Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheyev.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President,
Friends,
Allow me to warmly welcome you to Moscow.
We sincerely appreciate the fact that on such a significant day of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory you are with us in Moscow, personally taking part in the anniversary celebrations. Although I know that they tried to discourage you, and even created certain logistic problems; nevertheless, you are here with us, and we highly appreciate it.
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This is our shared holiday. Our soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder against the Nazi invaders. In this connection, I remember well the telephone conversation we had on October 20, 2024, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade from the Nazi invaders. The Belgrade offensive operation of the Soviet Army conducted together with the units of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army was one of the key events in the final stage of the Second World War. We know how respectful the authorities and people of Serbia regard the memory of the soldiers who fell for the freedom of our countries. We are very grateful for that.
The friendship of our fraternal peoples was hardened in those severe war years. It is a solid foundation of strategic partnership relations between Russia and Serbia. It is constructive and mutually beneficial in nature. We appreciate Serbia's independent and sovereign course in international affairs.
The Russian-Serbian dialogue is developing steadily. On March 7, we already spoke in detail on the phone, discussed relevant issues of our interaction. In February, the heads of the foreign ministries held substantive talks in Moscow. Sector ministries maintain regular contact. Interparliamentary work is also quite stable. However, indicators of our mutual trade are far from being optimal, unfortunately. Moreover, there is some decline, and we definitely need to come up with solutions to overcome this trend. And following the approval of the new government, we would like to ask you to appoint a co-chairman of our intergovernmental commission from the Serbian side as soon as possible. From our side, it is headed by Minister of Economic Development of Russia Mr Reshetnikov.
Energy remains the driver of our trade and investment relations. We are well aware of this. Russia remains the guarantor of Serbia's energy security, covering about 85 percent of Serbia's total energy needs. Natural gas contracted by Serbia is supplied in a routine manner via the TurkStream pipeline. Moreover, Gazprom not only reliably supplies gas, but also adds, upon request from our Serbian friends, volumes in excess of contractual obligations. The reliability of supplies creates conditions for stable economic activity in Serbia.
We are also working in other areas. During our conversation today, we will definitely talk about this too, discuss all current issues of Russian-Serbian interaction and see what we can and should do in the long run.
Thank you.
President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic: Mr President, friends,
First of all, Mr President, thank you very much for your warm welcome and your hospitality here. I would like to once again congratulate you on the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
This is a very important day for us, for the Serbs. We are proud of the role our people played in liberating our country from the Nazi invaders and we are very grateful to the Red Army, the Soviet Army, which played a major role in this liberation.
I would also like to express my personal gratitude for the tremendous support of Serbia's territorial integrity, our sovereignty, and, of course, you made an exceptional contribution to the development of our bilateral relations. I completely agree with you that we need to increase our trade and I believe that there are great opportunities to do so.
You know that gas supply is a vital issue for us. We still have a long–term contract, and we had very good terms – I need to thank you for that. We hope that these terms can be preserved for us and, if I may say so, even improved.
We have good cooperation in various fields, but I think we can step up and strengthen this cooperation in all areas. Russia plays an important role and together with you we have the task of preventing a revision of history. Today has shown that we need to do this together.
Thank you once again for this solemn event, for the magnificent parade we attended today. And I hope to see you in Belgrade, Serbia.
Thank you once again for your hospitality: both my delegation and I feel at home here.
Thank you very much.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
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