Serbia’s internal state – primarily when it comes to the opposition, is the result of foreign services’ attempts to complicate Serbia’s position on the issue of negotiations – the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic said last night on the Hit Tvit talk-show on Belgrade based TV Pink.

The development of Russian-Serbian ties in the new year will certainly be determined by visit to Serbia by the Russian president, planned for January.

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Chepurin wrote this in an op-ed published in the Belgrade daily Politika.

According to Chepurin, Vladimir Putin's visit promises to be dynamic and effective.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Russia’s Ambassador in Belgrade Alexander Chepurin to discuss preparations for the announced visit to Serbia by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A statement from the president’s cabinet quoted Vucic as saying that “it is a great honour for Serbia to play host to the President of Russia once more”, adding that the visit is an expression of Putin’s respect for the country and the traditional friendly relations between the two countries.

Serbian and Russian presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Vladimir Putin and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.

The three leaders previously attended the Victory Day military parade in the Russian capital, organized every year on May 9 to mark victory over fascism in the Second World War.

Western intrusion into traditional Russian spheres of influence, areas under the sway of Moscow for three centuries or more, represents a highly provocative and destabilizing policy.

Note: this article is part of a symposium on U.S.-Russia relations included in the September/October 2017 issue of the National Interest.

Attempts to create a "Greater Albania" have been a topic of conversation as Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The daily Vecernje Novosti is reporting this, adding that they met in Beijing and spoke about the political situation in the region.

Vladimir Putin has said that the West negates the right of the people to self-determination in Crimea, while referring to it in the case of Kosovo. The Russian president spoke for Bloomberg when he said that "nothing can be done against the will of the people," but that "it seems that some of our partners fail to understand this." "Thinking of Crimea, they choose not to notice that the will of the Crimean people, 70 percent of which are ethnic Russians and the rest speak Russian as their native language, was to join Russia. They prefer to ignore this.