Ukraine has rejected accusations made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that Ukraine’s secret service is behind a series of hoax bomb threats against Air Serbia flights to Russia.
Vuvic has claimed, without providing evidence, that the foreign intelligence services of Ukraine and an unidentified European Union nation are behind the threats.
“[Vucic’s] statements about Ukraine’s alleged involvement in bomb threats to Serbian air carriers flying to Russia are false,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said in a statement.
Other Serbian officials have alleged that the threats had been sent from either Ukraine or Poland.
The Serbian national carrier is the only European airline that has not joined EU flight sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Several Air Serbia flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg have been delayed or had to return to Belgrade after receiving anonymous bomb threats.
Vucic said that although the flights to Russia are not making a profit because of frequent returns to their base in the Serbian capital, the flights will continue “as a matter of principle.”
Serbia voted in favor of three UN resolutions condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine but has rejected joining international sanctions against Moscow.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed disappointment that Serbia, a candidate to join the EU, has not yet supported the bloc’s sanctions against Russia.
“Tough sanctions and unity of the democratic world can stop this war,” Nikolenko said in a statement. “We call on Belgrade to stand up for the truth and fully join in supporting Ukraine and upholding the values on which a united democratic Europe has been founded.”