Belgrade has little or no chance to open the chapter 31 on foreign, security and defence policy in its accession negotiations with the European Union by the end of 2018 due to Lithuania’s disagreement over Serbia’s relations with Russia, the Vecernje Novosti daily reported on Tuesday.

Serbia’s Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic told the daily that the procedure envisaged that unless a report on progress in the particular chapter was not adopted by mid-year, it was highly unlikely that the talks on that chapter would start.

“The chapter 31 is not especially demanding, but the international relations have become complicated and the EU member states had to harmonise their policies to achieve a compromise. To a certain extent that led to a slightly changed position of some countries toward the candidate states,” she said.

Serbia has rejected to impose sanctions on Russia which the EU have implemented over Moscow policy in Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimea.

Joksimovic could not say whether Lithuania was the only country blocking Serbia, because, as she put it, “all states have their interests in mind and the debates are held behind closed doors.”

But, she added, “a candidate country is expected to gradually adjust its foreign policy to the EU before the eventual membership, and it relates not only to Russia but also to China and Africa.”