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The Star
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Serbia's students, opposition rally to demand snap elections
A drone view shows Serbian students and other demonstrators participating in an anti-government protest demanding snap elections at the Slavija square, in Belgrade, Serbia, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic BELGRADE (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of students and anti-corruption protesters rallied in Belgrade on Saturday, demanding snap elections and an end to the 12-year rule of President Aleksandar Vucic. Police deployed scores of officers in riot gear around government buildings, parliament and nearby Pionirski Park, where throngs of Vucic's backers from across the country gathered in a counter-protest. Months of protests across the country, including university shutdowns, have rattled Vucic, a populist, whose second term ends in 2027, when there are also parliamentary elections scheduled. Vucic's opponents accuse him and his allies of ties to organised crime, violence against rivals and curbing media freedoms, something they deny. The student protest is set to last until 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) at Slavija Square and Nemanjina Avenue, where most of the government offices are located. The protesters, who want the government to heed their demands by the end of the protest, have pledged non-violence. Vucic has previously refused snap elections. His Progressive Party-led coalition holds 156 of 250 parliamentary seats. On Saturday, Vucic said unspecified "foreign powers" were behind the protest. He said police should be restrained, but warned that violence will not be tolerated. 'The country will be defended, and thugs will face justice,' he told reporters in Belgrade. Sladjana Lojanovic, 37, a farmer from the town of Sid in the north, said she came to support students. "The institutions have been usurped and ... there is a lot of corruption. Elections are the solution, but I don't think he (Vucic) will want to go peacefully," she told Reuters. In the days ahead of the protest, police arrested about a dozen anti-government activists, charging them with undermining the constitution and terrorism. All denied the charges. Protests by students, opposition, teachers, workers and farmers began last December after 16 people died on November 1 in a Novi Sad railway station roof collapse. Protesters blame corruption for the disaster. The Belgrade rally coincides with St. Vitus Day, venerated by most Serbs, which marks the 1389 Battle of Kosovo with Ottoman Turks. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Jane Merriman)
Straits Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Kremlin says Russia is not holding gas supply talks with Europe or the US
FILE PHOTO: A gas station attendant refuels a gas station supplies, at a Serbian oil company NIS gas station, which is controlled by the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft in Belgrade, Serbia, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic/File Photo Kremlin says Russia is not holding gas supply talks with Europe or the US MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia is not holding talks with Europe or the United States about Russian gas supplies via Ukraine. Russian gas supplies to Europe have collapsed since the start of the military conflict in Ukraine in February 2022 and blasts at the subsea Nord Stream pipelines. Gas exports to Europe from Russia via Ukraine also fell from the start of this year when a transit deal expired and Ukraine refused to extend it because of the war in Ukraine. A source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters this month that the U.S. demanded that the U.S. government's International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline from Russian energy giant Gazprom across Ukraine to Europe as part of broader peace talks. Russia's only remaining gas route to Europe is TurkStream via the Black Sea to Turkey and further to southern and central Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no talks with the U.S. and Europe about more Russian gas supplies. "No, there are no (talks)... The point was that this is a commercial story. There is a gas seller, there are potential buyers of gas," he said on a daily conference call with reporters. "If the buyers show interest, if the transit route works, then, of course, the seller will be ready to discuss all of this. Nobody denies or rejects anything." On Wednesday, in an interview with French magazine Le Point, Peskov said that Gazprom was ready to resume supplies. "Gazprom will surely debate it. We are ready to trade our gas and we know that there are certain countries in Europe that want to keep buying it from us. Everything will be settled commercially," he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
