President Vladimir Putin addresses supporters during his pre-election campaign rally at Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, on March 3. Photo: EPA/EFE/Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool

An MP from Serbia’s ruling Progressive Party, Vladimir Djukanovic, told BIRN that a delegation of MPs went to Russia on Thursday to observe Sunday’s presidential election, at Russia’s invitation, and will have important meetings there.

“We are meeting the Council of the Russian Federation today and tomorrow we will meet the head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Council, Konstantin Kosachev,” Djukanovic told BIRN.

Russia will hold presidential elections on Sunday, which Vladimir Putin is expected to win easily. Serbia’s ruling party has traditionally warm relations with Putin’s party, United Russia.

In September, a delegation from United Russia met senior officials from the Progressives in Moscow.

Serbia’s state news agency, Tanjug, said the Progressives and the head of the government’s Kosovo Office, Marko Djuric, had conveyed their gratitude to United Russia, Putin and “the Russian people for their support and for the development of cooperation between the two parties and states”.

The deputy secretary of the General Council of United Russia, Sergei Zeleznjak said during the meeting that Russia supported the Serbian President and head of the Progressives, Aleksandar Vucic, for his “contribution to justifying and realizing the confidence of the people and to ensuring the security of the citizens and the development of the [Serbian] state”.

The delegation of Serbian MPs in Russia includes Progressive MPs Veroljub Arsic, Milovan Drecun and Vesna Ivkovic, Danijela Stojadinovic from the Socialist Party, Serbian Radical Party MP Aleksandar Seselj, and his party colleague, Dubravko Bojic.

“We will visit polling places and on Sunday will be guests of the Central Electoral Commission,” Djukanovic explained.

Serbia maintains close relations with fellow Orthodox Christian Russia despite its simultaneous pursuit of membership of the European Union.

It notably refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Russia after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Asked what his expectations from this visit are, Djukanovic answered: “Deepening parliamentary cooperation and brother relations between Serbia and Russia”.

Western countries have in the main dismissed the election as a farce, given that no serious rivals to Putin have been allowed to stand.

Read more:

Russia Backs Serb Party Joining Kosovo Govt