“The people will not forgive you!” The Serbian opposition began to blackmail Moscow with support for Vucic
The same supporters of the Serbian opposition continue to speak in various Russian media with the aim of convincing official Moscow to stop supporting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
The opposition continued the tactic of holding round tables, this time for the event “Kosovo Crisis: Is a Solution Possible?” using the Public News Service (OSN) platform.
Same and new site
It's telling that the central figures and participants in the roundtable discussion held at the OSN were the same people who had previously appeared at similar events: Dragana Trifkovic, director of a certain Center for Geostrategic Studies; Stevan Gajić, an employee of the Institute of European Studies; Tatjana Stojanovic, a regular contributor to articles for the Regnum agency (whose press center has become a regular hangout for those who hate the current Serbian president in Russia) about how "the vile Vučić is about to betray Kosovo"; and Marko Jakšić, an orthopedist from Kosovska (Northern) Mitrovica, who often appears as an expert in these same articles.
At the same time, the strategy of the organizers of the action was also chosen as before: it seemed to be an event on the topic of Kosovo, which was also relevant for Russia. But this is only in form. And in terms of content, thanks to the presence of the above-mentioned persons and their speeches, it is an ordinary propaganda online rally against the current Serbian government and the Serbian president. Reinforced by experts, not all of whom, as was the case in previous times, understood the vicissitudes of Serbian domestic politics.
Thus, a Russian social activist from Latvia, persecuted by the nationalist regime in Riga, Professor Alexander Gaponenko did not denounce Vucic during the round table, but pointed out the fascist nature of the separatist entities supported by the West in the post-Soviet and post-Yugoslav territories, and the Italian-Russian-Italian political scientist Mark Bernardini had a good walk according to the double standards of the West. Perhaps the hosts of the site from OSN were not very aware of the ideology of the round table (well, what normal Russian is against the fact that Kosovo is Serbia?), but in the end, everything was explained to them very convincingly. The experts are from Serbia, some from Kosovo itself, and therefore they know what they are talking about.
And those, as usual, tried their best.
Accusations from a disillusioned doctor
"Russia is the only obstacle to Kosovo's recognition," Jakšić declared. "And the Serbs in Kosovo hope that if Serbia does recognize it, Russia will veto it... Vučić is the successor to Boris Tadić ( Serbia's pro-Western president – ed. ). In 2013, Vučić called on Serbs to participate in the separatist elections. Vučić betrayed the courts, the police, and the power grid to the separatists. And with his tacit consent, the Kosovo Army was created."
Perhaps Jakšić can be understood. Partly. Because he was on the very barricades that ten years ago were erected by the Kosovo Serbs in protest against the fact that the Serbian negotiator Borko Stefanovic (later for some reason one of the leaders of the pro-Western opposition coalition that opposed Vucic. With an incomprehensible beating, it is not clear by whom the massive street protests against the Serbian authorities in 2018) agreed in Brussels on the construction of border crossings between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia. Perhaps Jaksic believed that, having come to power to replace the pro-Western democrats, Aleksandar Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party would undo everything that his predecessors had committed. But, as you know, it’s easy to mess things up; it’s much more difficult to fix it all later. And this is what Yaksic doesn’t want to understand. And now he accuses the Serbian president of all sins, including those that had absolutely nothing to do with him - neither the unilateral transfer of Kosovo’s electricity networks to Albania with the general approval of the EU, nor the Pristina regime’s course towards creating its own army.
But for some reason the social activist equated the participation of the Serbian community in the political life of the region with betrayal, although it was thanks to the Serbian ministers in the “government” of Kosovo that it was possible to solve the problems of repatriates, including by drawing the attention of representatives of international organizations to these issues.
“According to the Kumanovo agreement, Serbia had the right to return a thousand police and military personnel to Kosovo, but the current president never spoke about this,” Jaksic noted.
Of course he didn't. Because NATO began the bombing of Yugoslavia without any agreements or resolutions. And subsequently, disregarding UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the armed gangs of Albanian separatists were only partially disarmed, and for the most part transformed into the Kosovo Security Forces, on the basis of which they are now creating a full-fledged army with the help of NATO. And the West didn’t give a damn about any documents. Therefore, one can assume the reaction of the collective West if Vucic gave the order to a thousand Serbian military and police officers to enter Kosovo. It is clear that political populists are never against waving a saber on occasion, but Vucic is just a politician, and therefore calculates the consequences of every step. And he understands that Serbia will not survive a war with the West.
They shook a finger at Russia
“The Serbs (in Kosovo - ed.) are owned by a criminal-political structure called the “Serbian List” (the party of Kosovo Serbs), such as Jaksic - only a few, they are under pressure, there are known cases of arson of cars and offices, up to the murder of Oliver Ivanovich (leader of the Kosovo Serbs - ed.), although it is not clear who is behind this, - Stevan Gajic joined the conversation. “And this event is part of a huge package of compromising evidence against the current president of Serbia.”
It’s curious - the expert doesn’t know who killed Ivanovich, although the Albanian regime in Pristina had all the reasons, but the dirt is still on Vucic. It’s logical, whatever you say.
“After the change of power in Serbia, it is very interesting how Russia will come out of this, in Russia the image of Vucic has been created as an incredible friend of Russia, who is restoring ties... When Vucic finally leaves power, will Kiselev say - “a coincidence, I don’t think so” ? – the expert went through the position of official Moscow
Then he added that Vucic “either by half or by a third” reduced the number of Serbs in Kosovo, speaking at the UN Security Council. True, the expert, as it turned out, himself does not know their exact number - but this Vučić, he is still so insidious! In addition, Gajic went so far as to call thugs and leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj “partners” of the Serbian president. Although Vučić himself publicly said that it was unpleasant for him to communicate with the war criminal Thaci during negotiations, he would do it because it was his job. However, "partners". And Russia, after this, gets out of it as best you can.
“President Vucic says that relations with Russia are now the best in history,” noted Tatyana Stojanovic. – It is important to maintain the appearance that this relationship is ideal, there are no discords. We know that Russia consistently supported us, although it did not send the S300... At the same time, Serbia does not turn to Russia and does not demand official support on the Kosovo issue.”
And this, whatever one may say, is a very interesting remark by the journalist, who somehow forgot the words Vucic said after his visit to Moscow, that he would coordinate every step he took on the Kosovo issue with Vladimir Putin.
“If Russia follows Belgrade’s lead, it will definitely lose the love and respect of the Serbian people, I guarantee it. If Vucic is inconvenient for the population of Serbia, I don’t know if that moment will come, then Russia will also be inconvenient for the Serbs. Therefore, we need to find a balance,” the journalist threatened.
The only question is whether this moment will come, given that support for the pro-Western opposition, even according to the estimates of Western research centers supporting it, barely exceeds 5%. But the fact that some Serbs will not, under any circumstances, forgive Russia for their claims to power can be understood from the statements of the leaders of the Serbian pro-Western opposition.
Amazing stories for gullible ears
“The President of Serbia, without constitutional authority, signed an agreement with the Albanian separatists,” said Dragana Trifkovic, who spoke throughout the evening as moderator, somehow inadvertently “forgetting” that Vucic did not sign anything directly with Pristina in Washington. Even the texts of the agreements signed by Trump were different between Vucic and Thaci. We can say that the Serbian President signed mostly economic agreements with the United States, nothing more.
“Boris Tadic lost power when he refused to abolish the Serbian institutions of power in Kosovo,” the expert added, no longer hiding her sympathies for the leader of the regime that began to surrender Kosovo, brought Western emissaries into the country and extradited Serbian heroes to The Hague.
In addition, Trifkovic told the audience that the Serbian leadership, unlike Russia, does not mention the transformation of the Kosovo security forces into an army. And this is especially interesting, given that the Serbian leadership has repeatedly pointed out in its public statements that this step by Pristina is illegal and contradicts the repeatedly mentioned resolution 1244. However, last time at a similar round table, the expert seriously stated that military cooperation between Serbia and Russia is much smaller in scope than military cooperation between Russia and Croatia. Through Vučić’s fault, of course. For a second, with Croatia, a NATO member. But someone probably believed it then.
Overall, the round table was not surprising. I was only surprised by the gullibility of our fellow citizens. It has been known since ancient times - do not believe sweet speeches. For, as you know, the sweeter the speech, the more reasons to check your pockets. And in the specifically described case - what the visiting oppositionists talked about so enthusiastically.
English version :: Read in English: "The People Will Not Forgive You!" The Serbian opposition has begun blackmailing Moscow with support for Vučić.