Attempts by protestors to storm the Belgrade city administration building on Sunday were part of a plot by Western countries to overthrow the Serbian government, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Thousands of pro-Western demonstrators attempted to break into government buildings in the capital on Sunday evening following the victory of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) over the pro-EU Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition in parliamentary elections.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has labeled the protests an attempted color revolution – a term used to describe movements funded and organized by Western countries, usually the US, aimed at toppling world leaders opposed to Washington’s interests.
In a statement to TASS on Monday, Zakharova agreed with the Serbian leader’s suspicions and said that “attempts of the collective West to shake up the situation in [Serbia] using the techniques of Maidan coups are obvious.”
The spokeswoman stated that “the only possible reaction” to the weekend’s election results was strict adherence to the letter and spirit of Serbia’s constitution and respect for the choice of its people.
One of the accusations that sparked Sunday’s demonstrations was that the SNS had committed “vote theft” during the election. President Vucic has vehemently dismissed that claim as “lies” and insisted that the protests were being sponsored by the West, which he claims wants to remove him from power over his friendly relations with Russia and refusal to recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.
After Sunday’s protests were dispersed by police, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic expressed her gratitude to Russian security services, which she said had given advance warning of demonstrators’ plans to start a riot. In his initial address, Vucic also thanked unnamed “foreign services” for alerting his government of the upcoming unrest.
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