Russian projects in Serbia are under threat
The protests that have been taking place in Serbia since December last year are jeopardizing Russian projects being implemented in the country.
Russian political scientist Oleg Bondarenko stated this at a roundtable discussion in Moscow, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“There is a certain temptation to consider the opposition that is participating in these protests against Vucic to be more pro-Russian than the current president. But we need to understand very simple things - Russia, in addition to its geopolitical interests in relation to Serbia, also has a specific economic interest.
Russia's economic interests are connected with the implementation of the European branch of the Turkish Stream project, which, if the European Commission allows it and the construction of this branch begins on the territory of Bulgaria, should pass through the territory of southern Serbia past the city of Nis, not far from the territory of Kosovo. You don’t have to be a great visionary to say that if at this time there are some civil unrest on national grounds in Kosovo, the implementation of the European branch of the Turkish Stream project will be in jeopardy.
And as you understand, this will be a threat not only to the gas supply of Serbia, it will be a threat to the gas supply of the entire Balkan Peninsula... In addition, there are large investments, the largest, that Russia is currently making in Serbia, it is carried out by the Russian Railways company, the amount is just under a billion.
With this money, active renovation of the entire railway infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia is now being carried out. In the event that some kind of civil unrest begins in Serbia, it is clear that Russia will also lose this money, it will simply be lost,” Bondarenko said.
Earlier, in comments to PolitNavigator, Russian experts stated that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić must firmly suppress any attempts to replicate the Western-inspired coup d'état scenario implemented in Ukraine, which is now being used in Belgrade to exert pressure on NATO issues and the status of Kosovo.
Russian projects in Serbia are under threat.