Serbian NGOs: Serbia sacrifices human rights for Putin's sake

Serbian nongovernmental organisations said today, on the occasion of Vladimir Putin's visit, that the Russian president's authoritarian power cannot be a model for Serbian authorities.

Despite the Serbian executive power stance that Putin's visit does not mean abandoning reforms and European integration, the NGO fears the Russian head of state's arrival shows Serbia is willing to sacrifice respect for human rights and a better standard of society for the sake of good relations with Moscow.

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights, the Autonomous Centre of Women, Women in Zeza, believes Putin's visit, with publicity in the media, gives an additional incentive for further collapse of Serbia's democratic institutions, rights and freedoms of citizens, under “masscal” of Serbian-Russian friendship.