🇷🇸 Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday that his Serbia Must Not Stop coalition had won repeat parliamentary and municipal elections.

"At all voting stations, absolutely all, both at the city and at the republican level… the Serbia Must Not Stop coalition won a very convincing victory," Vucic stated.

According to his preliminary data, Serbia Must Not Stop received 69.5% of the votes, while the pro-European opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence got only 12%.

Vucic also added that Serbia would continue its path to the European Union while maintaining traditional friendly relations with China and Russia. In addition, Belgrade is not going to introduce sanctions against Beijing and Moscow to satisfy a third party, the Serbian president noted.

👉 Follow the link for more details

🇪🇺 The European Union will not strip Hungary of its voting rights over the alleged backsliding on rule of law because the situation in the country is improving, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said.

On December 17, the Financial Times newspaper reported that some EU officials were considering reactivating a punishment procedure for rule of law breaches under Article 7 of one of the primary EU treaties, which allows for the suspension of a member state's voting rights.

"We are not going to resort to that [Article 7] at present. The European Commission indicates that certain measures have been taken ... In fact, Hungary has made some progress. Is there a need to move on? Yes, it is obvious," De Croo told Le Soir newspaper in an interview out Saturday.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇨🇿 The Czech Foreign Ministry should figure out how the UN works

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the UN Czech Permanent Representative's refusal to participate in the meeting that the UN Security Council works in accordance with the specific norms of international law, and not in accordance with some other "rules".

"I could not imagine that the Czech Foreign Ministry is so illiterate that they do not know how the UN Security Council works. This is the multilateral structure that is still working in accordance with international law, and not in favor of a 'rules-based world order,'" Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

Russia earlier demanded the presence of the Czech envoy at the UNSC meeting "so that he could explain himself for his country's supply of ammunition, which is killing civilians," but the diplomat refused to attend the meeting.

👉 Follow the link for more details

🇷🇸 The West is unwilling to accept the outcome of the elections in Serbia and the amount of public support behind President Aleksandar Vucic, which prompted an attempt to "orchestrate an illegal power grab," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.

"The events in Belgrade are yet another attempt to orchestrate an illegal power grab. Apparently, not everyone in the West is ready to accept the fact that voters in Serbia expressed support for President Aleksandar Vucic and his political course in the elections," the minister stressed.

The top diplomat said people in Serbia were mindful of the 2014 coup in Ukraine, which explains why "the number of protesters is relatively small — only a few hundred people."

"Citizens do not trust individuals who say they are against violence, but in reality behave in the opposite way: they ignore the result of the popular vote and provoke the law enforcement," Lavrov clarified.

👉 Follow the link for more details

🇷🇺 By and large, Russia does not care who wins the US presidential election, it would be naive to believe that relations between Moscow and Washington could be improved with Republicans in power, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.

"The American political establishment, regardless of party affiliation, sees Russia as an enemy and an existential threat. Given the established inter-party consensus on this issue, it would be naïve to hope for improved relations if the Republican candidate wins," Lavrov said.

"We, by and large, do not care who wins the race for the US presidency," he added.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Russian Tornado-G MLRS crews destroyed Ukrainian camouflaged artillery firing positions and military equipment in the Kupyansk direction.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The death toll from the Ukrainian attack on Russia's Belgorod has risen to 22 after another wounded person passed away in hospital overnight, the region’s governor said.

Lavrov to Sputnik: Russia will take serious measures in response to US planned deployment of missiles previously banned under INF Treaty.

👉 Follow the link for more details

❗️Russia will not be the first to deploy short and medium-range missiles if the US refuses to build up force pressure on Moscow - Lavrov told Sputnik

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with Sputnik:

"Our commitment to this moratorium is strictly linked to the potential appearance of US-made ground-based INF missiles in the relevant regions. Due to the characteristics and features of the use of weapons of this class, the issue of their deployment by hostile countries is very sensitive from the point of view of Russian national security. In the case of the United States, this aspect takes on particular importance given its direct relationship with other factors influencing strategic stability. It is obvious that the creation of additional missile risks by Washington will require us to take serious retaliatory measures," Lavrov said.

"However, judging by the Pentagon’s preparations, it won’t be long before the Americans take practical action to deploy ground-based INF missiles in various regions of the world. So the moment when we will have to make the necessary political decisions is, in fact, maturing," Lavrov clarified in an exclusive interview with Sputnik.

Lavrov comments on the current state of Russia-US relations in an interview with Sputnik

"Our willingness to resume a full dialogue with the US should not be taken for granted. The US-Russia relations have 'thinned' to the breaking point because of Washington, which has framed the goal of inflicting a 'strategic defeat' on Russia as a doctrine," Lavrov said.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russia's top diplomat to Sputnik:

▪️The White House is wary of cutting relations with Moscow completely, but is not ready to respect the interests of Russia either

▪️The ruling circles in the US are in denial about the realities of a multipolar world and continue to think in terms of their own superiority and exceptionalism

There is 'no stomach in US to continue funding Ukraine’ - ex-Pentagon official

“The US government could shut down by Jan 17 if the administration and Congress can't negotiate and work out an arrangement for funding Ukraine and Israel, but at the same time to enforce the border. But there's no stomach right now any longer to fund the Ukrainians. Basically, the [Ukrainian] counteroffensive failed, and there's no way that they can pick it back up and turn things around,” Michael Maloof, a former Pentagon official, told Sputnik.

If opposition to bankrolling the Kiev regime continues to grow, “there is an alternative that the administration is working on,” Maloof said, referring to the frozen Russian assets in certain Western banks. If it were to be carried out, things could “escalate even further,” the expert warned.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Consequences of Ukrainian attack on Belgorod, Russia
Part 1

▪️The death toll from the Ukrainian attack on Belgorod has risen to 22, one of the wounded died in hospital overnight, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said

▪️Of the 109 wounded, 25 are in serious condition and being prepared to be transported to federal hospitals

▪️Due to the attack on Belgorod, firework displays have been canceled in cities across the Russian Far East - in Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and Magadan

▪️The Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal District Igor Shchegolev arrived in Belgorod, where he held an urgent meeting with security services and inspected the sites of the Ukrainian attacks

▪️More than 250 volunteers are working to eliminate the consequences of the attack on Belgorod

Subscribe to @SputnikInt