What game does Vucic play?

The German magazine SPIEGEL in the text, entitled “European Friends of the Kremlin” in its online edition, deals with demonstrations in Belgrade in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy and demands an answer to the question: “Which are the reasons for this?” And what game does Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic play here?

At the beginning of the text, author Walter Mayer writes: “If there were an award for a city in Europe, which could offer the most typical public spectacle these days, Belgrade would certainly be at the top of the list. Along with Russian flags, Putin's portraits and wooden crosses, thousands marched through the Serbian capital on Friday (March 4th) to express solidarity with the Kremlin leaders and support for their aggressive fight against Ukraine. ”

Talent doll, pulling the strings from the background”

Trying to explain this phenomenon, the author remembers Serbia's traditionally close ties with “Russia “and with the Orthodox brotherly people in the East, but also mentions that all of this is now being tested. This speaks, further in the article, for “President Aleksandar Vucic”. On the one hand, it is for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but at the same time does not want to join EU sanctions against Russia. He does not clearly criticise the apparent aggressive struggle, referring to his country's “special relations with Russia”.

The author calls Vucic a talented “kukulliar, moving wires from above” and remembers that at the beginning of his political career he was a student of war criminals like Radovan Karadzic, Vojislav Seselj and Slobodan Milosevic.

For years he was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and to this day it is successfully presented as a mediator between worlds, as a politician who is skillfully balancing among the powerful in Brussels, the Kremlin and Beijing. But at the same time he does not answer the question, in which of these worlds he and the Serbian people feel at home”, the text reports.

This certainly concerns the April 3rd presidential election, where the serious opponent is former chief of the Serbian Army General Staff Zdravko Ponos. So Vucic must now explain his electorate, why his old ally Vladimir Putin is now flooding the peaceful neighbouring Ukraine with bombs and grenades, writes the author.

Many irritated in Brussels

So far, mainly arguments from the recent past have been used. Russia in 1999 protested NATO bombings on Serbia. But from Serbia's point of view, there are also very pragmatic reasons to support Putin's policy, Mayer adds: “during the November meeting on the Black Sea coast, Putin promised Vucic additional gas supplies at a favourable price”. After the meeting, Serbia's president admitted that „required” Putin „

Public opinion, with the huge media support of Vuciqi's loyal boulevard newspapers, is at the hands of the president. Polls show that two-thirds of Serbian citizens have a positive attitude towards Putin. Some newspapers even featured titles such as “Ukraine invaded Russia”, recalls the author.

But this is the situation, in which the European Union itself has led, thinks Walter Mayer: “Since Kosovo's quick declaration of independence in 2008, Serbia has a key role in finding a lasting peaceful solution for the Western Balkans. Vucic knows that and uses it very successfully. It increasingly strengthens its authoritarian rule in Serbia, while at the same time on the international stage it is presented as an honest mediator regarding Kosovo”.

A Serious Security Threat

In the author's view, this <x0 diplomatic access to the eggs” poses more and more a serious threat to security on the continent, as seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With Russian and Serbian support, the increasingly serious game with Milorad Dodik's fire is threatening to turn into a real fire. Constantly cited is the possibility of Republika Srpska's secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would jeopardise “the entire post-Yugoslav post-war order, positioned by torment”, Mayr thinks.

And the “fact that Vucic, the president of a country that is a candidate for EU membership, has so far received no serious criticism from the European Commission, from the head of the Serbian state, could be understood as a reward for his cynical policy”, concludes the journalist. of the German magazine Spiegel, Walter Mayer.