Keeping close relations with the regime of Russia's President Vladimir Putin is incompatible with EU membership aspirations, the European Union's (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said in Luxembourg on Monday.

It is a strategic choice of Western Balkans countries to enter the EU, while keeping close relations with the Putin regime is not compatible with building a joint future with and inside the European Union, Borrell told a news conference after a meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, reported Hina.

During a working dinner, foreign ministers of Western Balkans countries joined their colleagues from the EU for talks on harmonizing their policies with the EU foreign and security policy.

Serbia is the only EU candidate country that has not imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war.