President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that Serbia will not vote for sanctions at the special session of the UN General Assembly, but will vote in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

“Regarding everything about violations of territorial integrity, Serbia will join others, and as far as sanctions are concerned, Serbia will not join in or at least for it won’t a while longer, for the few more days that I am de facto president. Once you elect someone else, that’s a different story,” Vucic said at a ceremony for a road in the northern Vojvodina region.

Presidential elections in Serbia have been called for April 3.

“There were nine votes yesterday. We did not join in for eight but we did for one,” he said commenting on the UN General Assembly special session called over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. “We will have one which we will join in today,” he added.

Vucic said the pressure on the Serbian authorities was enormous.

“I had talks with officials of a number of countries late into the night and all day today. So much for the great respect for the independence and rights of countries to decide for themselves,” he said adding that he believes official Belgrade will resist the pressure and avoid the “wrath of the powerful.”

“We will try to save and defend the country without losing face,” he said.