BELGRADE, August 12. /TASS/. Belgrade should not join the European Union or impose sanctions on Moscow, chairman of the opposition New Democratic Party of Serbia Milos Jovanovic told TASS.

"Serbia should not become an EU member not because of Russia, but for its own good. Of course, for me personally and for the party I lead, it is unacceptable for Serbia to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation. However, it is even more unacceptable to recognize the secession of our southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, which is the West’s main condition for Serbia’s EU accession. And there are many other unacceptable things, too, from migrants to same-sex marriage," he said.

Serbia could join the EU only as a defeated and humiliated nation, the politician noted. "At the end of the day, it is simple. The West that is waging war against Russia today is the same West that waged war against Serbia starting in 1990. Our country could become an EU member only as a defeated and humiliated nation, something I will never agree to," he stressed.

Serbia has held EU candidate status since 2012, with accession negotiations underway since 2014. Last month Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed Belgrade’s disappointment over the fact that the country did not open a single new chapter of EU accession negotiations in the past five years.