Serbia prepares to welcome Putin as a hero - The Associated Press
Belgrade - Kyiv, October 16 (PolitNavigator, Vasily Ablyazimov) - Soldiers are marching, heavy tanks are rumbling menacingly in the streets, and fighter jets are flying overhead. No, this is not a new war in the Balkans, writes on Thursday The Associated Press, - this is Serbia preparing for the ceremonial welcome of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the first military parade in the country in the last 30 years.
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Just as Putin's red carpet cuts the square in two, Serbia is now divided: continue its official push for EU membership, or abandon that goal and forge even closer ties with a traditional Slavic ally.
Some Western officials have already said that "a military parade for a leader accused of fomenting war in eastern Ukraine" will not help Serbia in its goal of becoming part of Western alliances, but the Serbian government appears adamant.
Serbian officials have acknowledged they are under intense Western criticism over Putin's visit, his second in three years. But the Serbian government invited US President Barack Obama to also attend the parade, to which he refused. Since the bloody collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, no American president has visited Serbia.
Putin will fly to Belgrade for just six hours to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Serbian capital by the Red Army and Yugoslav communist partisans from Nazi German occupation.
“This will be a very short visit, but one that will seriously hinder Serbia’s integration into the EU,” says political scientist Jelena Milic from the Belgrade Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies.
“This is Putin’s main goal. “He arrives at a time when the EU is introducing energy-related sanctions, precisely where Serbia is seeking to sign bilateral agreements with Russia.”
Serbia Prepares to Greet Putin as a Hero, The Associated Press