Hungary and Slovakia vetoed a proposal to impose EU sanctions and an entry ban on Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, following his recent remarks in the European Parliament, the pro-Russian politician claimed on April 11.

"There was no controversy about the truth I presented. They simply had some comments about me personally, held a meeting at the highest level of the foreign ministries of their countries, and decided to ban me from entering EU countries," Vulin said.

Vulin has since clarified that the EU has not imposed an entry ban on him, and that Russian media outlet RIA Novosti had misreported this.

Vulin told TV Prva that the EU had wanted to make a decision on sanctions at the meeting of foreign ministers, but that Hungary and Slovakia vetoed the decision. "Since the decisions are made by consensus, they could not do that", he said.

Vulin believes that the EU was considering sanctions on him given his remarks in the European Parliament on April 9, when he rejected the idea of Serbia aligning with EU policy towards Russia and accused the bloc of trying to overthrow his President, Aleksandar Vucic. 

“Serbia will never go to war with Russia in exchange for EU membership,” he said, according to a copy of the speech obtained by Russia’s TASS news agency. He added that Serbia had been fulfilling “every wish and demand” of the EU for two decades, only to be sidelined in favour of Ukraine and Moldova – two countries that, he claimed, had not met basic accession criteria.

Vulin reiterated Serbia’s refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow, saying the conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided had the Minsk Agreement been respected. “Serbia will not do something so low as imposing sanctions on Russia because of a conflict that could have been avoided,” he said – a stance which isn’t new.

In a separate interview with TASS, Vulin accused Brussels of attempting to engineer regime change in Belgrade. “The attempt to overthrow my government on the streets of Belgrade is not a protest by the discontented, but the active work of Western intelligence services and the political project of the Brussels administration to replace President Vucic,” he claimed.

According to Vulin, the EU aims to install a new government in Serbia that would align with European foreign policy, including recognising Kosovo’s independence, rejecting the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina and imposing sanctions on Russia.

Vulin, the main representative of Serbia’s pro-Russian camp, has long maintained close ties with Moscow. He is already under US sanctions imposed in 2023 for allegedly using his government role to support Russian “malign activities.” Washington has also linked him to arms trafficking and organised crime networks.

As Serbia’s former state security chief, Vulin was been awarded a medal by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for intelligence cooperation. He meets with Russian officials frequently, including Foreign Intelligence Service director Sergei Naryshkin. His links to Moscow have sparked criticism over allegations that he provided information on Russian exiles living in Serbia, some of whom were later arrested upon returning to Russia.

“Serbia built its relationship with the EU guided by emotions,” Vulin told Republika Srpska’s public broadcaster RTRS. “Serbia adored the EU and forgave its every sin and betrayal. This blind love, devoid of reason, led Serbia to forget that the EU participated in bombing Serbia and Republika Srpska and in recognising so-called Kosovo.”

“We dreamed of a Europe of free nations and equal rights; we awakened at the doorstep of a European Union that does not want us,” he said in his Brussels speech.