Serbia and the Contestation of Sanctions Against Russia

As a state striving to enter the European Union (EU), Serbia’s decision not to join the EU sanctions on Russia because of its behaviour towards Ukraine can be seen as puzzling. Unlike other EU candidate states, which as a rule comply with EU’s requests to synchronise with Brussels foreign policy during their accession process, Serbia has refused to conform to this practice. Drawing from the theoretical framework developed in Chapter One of this volume, we examine how Serbia has contested the EU sanction regime and discuss the motivations for its actions through a discourse analysis of the two main Serbian tabloids (Srpski Telegraf and Informer) known for their political closeness to the ruling elites in Belgrade.