Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic refused to sign the final declaration of the Southeast Europe Summit on Ukraine, which was eventually edited, as he himself told reporters.

The document, which initially included sharp anti-Russian rhetoric was edited not to mention the mandatory introduction of sanctions on Russia, Vucic said after the event.

"I must disappoint you: this provision was changed, and now the document does not say that countries must [impose sanctions on Russia]. It calls for harmonizing their measures with those of the EU. We managed to change that. We changed four provisions, which, in my view, are important. This was one of them. Serbia respects its policy and will continue to pursue the policy of an independent and sovereign country," Vucic pointed out.

"Not everyone here sees eye-to-eye on everything. What is important is that we discussed the issue of respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity. I emphasized the need to abide by the UN Charter and the importance of abiding by this principle instead of respecting it when someone can benefit from that and disregarding it when no benefits are in sight. The Serbia situation is the best example of this," Vucic noted.

Croatia’s Dubrovnik hosted the Southeast Europe Summit on Ukraine on October 9. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky took part in the event.