Serbia: Sympathy for loyal friend in Kremlin

At a time when Putin is bombing Ukraine, Serbs are backing Putin. For them, the enemy is NATO, because in 1999 it hit Belgrade.

Supporters of Putin in Belgrade with banners in hand and flags with hammer and sickle call NATO “fascist”. This is the picture in the capital of Belgrade, which in 1999, during the war in Yugoslavia, came under NATO fire, in an equally devastating war, as in Ukraine, with dead and wounded, in a war and again in its heart. Of Europe. One of the protesters, Marco Vesmar, is defending Putin’s war and even showing it, because in the T-shirt he is wearing is the Russian president holding a weapon.

I was blown away by the T-shirts with Putin

“Evil has reached Russia’s borders and without the invasion there would be another world war,” he said, justifying Putin’s aggressive war. T-shirts with Putin’s face can be found in all stores and bought in the blink of an eye. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is avoiding a clear stance on Russia. Yes, he condemned the Russian aggression, but he did not vote in favor of sanctions. The ties between the two peoples are historically close, due to the same religion and Slavic origin, due to the confluence of the two world wars, but also due to the fact that Russia voted against Kosovo’s independence in the UN Security Council. In addition, Serbia is covered almost exclusively by Russia.

Milos Jannovic, the candidate of the Democratic Party of Serbia, explains why the Serbs and their leadership are on Putin’s side, while his army is bombing an independent country. “Geopolitically, and this is no secret, we are on the Russian side for the simple reason that today our national interests are more or less threatened by the West and NATO, either in Kosovo or in the place of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Or the position of the Serbs in Montenegro. With the difference that the Russians are here to support us and in that sense we hope that Russia will not come out of this war weakened.”

In the “refrigerator” of the EU the Western Balkans

Last year, a poll by the European Institute found that 83% of Serbs surveyed considered Russia a friendly country. In fact, Putin has been declared an honorary citizen in more than ten Serbian cities. Even the glorious Cathedral of St. Sava, the largest orthodox church in the Balkans, was recently renovated with money from Russia. In such Serbia, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbok continues her tour of the Western Balkans today.

The new determination of the German government to accelerate the process of enlargement of the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans is linked to the fragile peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also to the increase of Russian influence in the region. For years the people of the countries were comforted by promises, but now the war in Ukraine seems to be accelerating developments.

Irini Anastassopoulou / FRARTE / afp / dw

Source: Deutsche Welle