Serbia: Thousands protest in Belgrade in favor of Russia and against NATO

Thousands of Serbs, waving Russian and Serbian flags and holding posters of Vladimir Putin, marched in central Belgrade on Friday and gathered outside the Russian embassy to express their opposition to the government’s attempt to distance themselves from Moscow. in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Crowds of protesters, including many from supranationalist groups, marched from the city center to the Russian embassy, ​​where they fired flares and sang the national anthems of Russia and Serbia, saluting the two countries as brotherly nations.

“I came to this demonstration to express my support for Russia and to say a clear ‘no’ to the policy of the Belgrade authorities who made a shameful decision to vote against Russia at the UN,” said Mladen Obradovic, one of the protesters.

In recent weeks, Belgrade has three times voted in favor of UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and suspending Russia’s participation in the Human Rights Council. Moscow describes the attack on Ukraine as a “special operation”.

However, Serbia, which is almost entirely dependent on Russia for oil and gas, refuses to impose sanctions on the Kremlin and maintains regular air links with Moscow.

Protesters chanted “No to NATO” and “Serbs and Russians are brothers”, as well as slogans against President Aleksandar Vucic, who won the April 3rd election, while the Serbian Progressive Party secured the most votes to form a government.

Earlier this week, in a move taken by experts as a move away from military co-operation with Russia, Vucic said Serbia was considering buying 24 – new and used – Western fighter jets.