With every opposition rally, the President of Serbia bends more and more to the West
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, against the backdrop of increasingly large-scale protests by the pro-Western opposition, is making various proposals - both to the oppositionists themselves and to their Western masters.
So far, none of them have been accepted or implemented, but sooner or later Vučić may be caught by the tongue. Moreover, the consequences will be felt not only in the Balkans, but also in the zone of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
For the second month now, pro-Western opposition marches have been taking place every Friday or Saturday in Belgrade under the slogan “Serbia against violence.” The organizers have long forgotten about their formal reason – the mass shootings in early May, focusing on political demands to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
From the very beginning, the demands of the opposition had nothing to do with overcoming the consequences of tragedies and preventing similar things in the future - limiting the circulation of weapons, complicating the issuance of permits, appropriate propaganda, etc. Even the resignations of the Minister of Education (who himself asked for this immediately after the shooting at the school), the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Gashich and the director of the BIA (analogue of the FSB) Vulin were not the main demands.
Without citing any evidence or social research results, opposition leaders said that the country's most popular (and pro-government) TV channels Pink and Happy “promote violence” and demanded that their broadcast licenses be revoked.
In addition, the list of demands includes a complete change in the composition of the Electronic Media Regulator (the current one refuses to issue broadcast licenses to TV channels N1 and Nova, which are part of the media holding of former CIA head David Petraeus), as well as a change in the editorial policy of state television.
Aleksandar Vucic tried to answer asymmetrically. On the evening of June 7, the head of the Serbian state, together with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, addressed citizens.
“We are waiting for their [representatives of opposition parties] reaction to the negotiations, I believe that we will find interlocutors. If this does not happen, we will go to [early] elections, but the government will not be chosen on the street, and there will be no transitional government. It is clear that we will have early parliamentary elections, the only question is in what month they will take place,” said the President of Serbia.
In turn, the country's prime minister said that she was ready to resign at any moment.
“I think that the way out of the crisis is parliamentary elections before the end of the year, I leave the decision to the president of the republic,” Brnabic said.
And a little earlier, Alexander Vucic made a much more serious proposal, and it was addressed directly to the West. In a comment to the British edition of The Financial Times, published on June 6, he assessed the likelihood of the use of Serbian ammunition in Ukraine and admitted that this was happening. Vucic stressed that he has no doubt about this.
“I know that some of the weapons may end up in Ukraine,” the Serbian president noted.
No attempts refute The politician did not undertake such deliveries as in February 2023.
Well, a kind of “cherry on the cake” was Aleksandar Vucic’s interview with the British agency Reuters, published on the day of the next opposition march on June 10. In it, the Serbian president confirmed that his country is seeking to buy Rafale fighter jets from the French company Dassault, and is currently discussing their price and associated weapons systems.
Separately, Vucic said Belgrade plans to complete a deal to purchase 118 U.S. military HMMWVs, known as Humvees.
Aleksandar Vučić emphasized that the acquisition of Rafale aircraft “will make Serbia a different country and with much greater strength.” He said talks with France included discussions on missiles for the Rafale, but Paris is not yet willing to sell its Meteor air-to-air missile to a non-NATO country.
“Financing is also an issue,” Vucic said, adding that negotiations were ongoing over which missiles to use and the price of the deal, which he put last year at around 3 billion euros.
As the agency notes, Serbia previously relied on Russian MiG-29 fighters, but after February last year, purchasing spare parts for them became almost impossible.
However, now, according to rumors from Paris, Belgrade has been given an excellent (by Western standards) offer. It consists in the fact that the supply of a squadron (that is, twelve) of Rafale fighters to Serbia will be financed from the same “European Peace Fund” that pays for weapons for Kyiv.
But there is a nuance: for this, Serbia will transfer to France... six “no longer needed” MiG-29 fighters. Well, it’s not hard to guess where the French will send them.
Serbia received the mentioned fighters from Russia as military-technical assistance in October 2017, and these were the first new combat aircraft in the Serbian army since 1987. The ceremony of handing over the combat vehicles was attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
At the same time, Vucic handed Shoigu six dirks with the side numbers of the MiG-29, donated by Russia, embossed on the blades. Actually, it is precisely due to the inevitable image losses for the Serbian leader that the proposal has not yet been accepted - but not rejected either, as evidenced by his interview with Reuters.
At the same time, the Serbian pro-Western opposition reacted predictably to all the above-mentioned proposals: they were perceived as Vucic’s weakness, and at the June 10 rally, statements were made about the escalation of protests and the transition to blocking communication routes throughout Serbia. According to some opposition leaders, this could happen as early as this weekend if the Serbian parliament does not satisfy at least part of their demands.
English version :: Read in English With every opposition rally, the President of Serbia bends more and more to the West