Serbia's Vucic hits back at NATO member over Balkan summit cancellation

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic hit back at his Croatian counterpart, Zoran Milanovic, who canceled the upcoming Brdo-Brijuni regional summit and accused Belgrade of hostile rhetoric. On Monday, Milanovic announced the cancellation of the annual meeting of Balkan countries, which was to take place in Croatia next month, arguing that Vucic's statements and actions "disrupt interstate relations and threaten peace and stability in the Southeast European region." Vucic responded to the Tanjug news agency, stating: "He is absolutely right, I don't belong there," and added that Croatia should not feel any danger from Serbia, but they won't silence Serbia's statements.

Vucic had earlier described the 2025 defense cooperation agreement between Croatia, Albania, and Serbia's breakaway Kosovo region as "a military alliance aimed at attacking Serbia at some point in the future." This month, he argued that Serbia's neighbors were "waiting for a favorable moment when there would be general chaos in the world." Milanovic dismissed those claims as "silly" and denied that cooperation between Croatia, a NATO member, and Albania and Kosovo could be considered a military alliance.

In 1999, NATO carried out a bombing campaign in Serbia in support of ethnic Albanian insurgents in Kosovo. In 2008, the Albanian-led authorities in Kosovo declared independence from Belgrade, which has been recognized by most Western states, but not by countries such as Russia and China. Serbia's relations with the Western-backed government in Kosovo remain tense and have led to occasional military standoffs, as Belgrade has accused the Albanian-led authorities of persecuting ethnic Serbs.

The summit cancellation highlights the ongoing tensions in the Balkans, where historical disputes and geopolitical alliances continue to affect regional stability. Vucic emphasized that Serbia will not bow to external dictates, while Milanovic insists that Belgrade's actions are a threat to peace, reflecting the complex dynamics between regional states and international influences.