BELGRADE - Serbia is a suitable country for OSCE chairmanship at a time when the search for a solution to the problem in Ukraine is underway, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said in an interview for the Russian national television and expressed the wish for the solution to be found soon.

Ukraine is a friend to Serbia and it has not recognised the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo-Metohija, Nikolic said in an interview broadcast by the Saturday news show on the Russia-24 channel.

Replying to the statement by the Russian newscaster that Serbia's position makes room for a dialogue with both sides and preserving the country's national interests at the same time, while Ukraine had brought itself in the position where it had to choose between Russia and the EU, Nikolic said that comparisons between these two examples can be hardly made because Ukraine was divided.

A part of Ukraine wanted to stand by the EU and the other part opted for Russia, the Serbian president said and added that Serbia was not divided in this sense, as it wants to keep good ties with both Russia and the EU, which Russia and the EU should make possible.

Asked if he has any concerns about the possibility for Serbia to delay its EU accession in this way, Nikolic declined and noted that when the country decided to conduct the talks with the EU, there was no mention of introducing sanctions against Russia.

Asked about his view of Russia, Nikolic said that he sees it like most Serbian citizens, as part of history, present and the future.

We share the same origin, language, religion, tradition and culture, Nikolic said and added that Serbia and Russia were always on the same side in wars. Nevertheless, he noted that the two countries did not understand each other right off sometimes, and listed the example the period of the '90s.

This period was marked by the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and both countries had many problems of their own at the time, the president recalled and added that Russia even voted in favour of sanctions against Yugoslavia, which were similar to the ones now imposed on Russia. Nikolic expressed regret over the fact that at that time, Russia did not have the president like the one it has now.

Speaking about the forthcoming celebration of the 70th anniversary of liberation of Belgrade in 1994, Nikolic said that he regards the Russian Federation as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, while the Russian Armed Forces are in his view the legal successor of the Red Army, adding that Serbia sees Ukraine as a friend.

Speaking about the forthcoming military parade and the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Belgrade, Nikolic said that military parades were not organised for 29 years and that the time has come to stage a military parade in Serbia again.

We have decided to magnify the importance of the parade by attendance of the supreme commander of the Armed Forces at the event, just like Marshal Georgy Zhukov and General Vladimir Zhdanov attended the military parades in 1944. The supreme commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Serbia will also attend the parade, and this is not an exception nor is there anything special about it, Nikolic said in the show.