Russia’s Balkan ally Serbia faces mounting Western pressure to normalize relations with its former province, Kosovo, and warnings that any rejection of a proposed reconciliation deal with the European Union could jeopardize Belgrade’s path. towards membership in the European Union.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is ready to launch a public campaign on the merits of reconciliation with Kosovo. Diplomats from the European Union (EU) and the US have lobbied of late, issuing warnings that Belgrade must accept the plan put forward by the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue to normalize relations with Kosovo.
The EU-sponsored plan, first reported by Serbian media, does not require Serbia to fully recognize Kosovo as an independent nation. Instead, Serbia must stop blocking Kosovo’s membership in international organizations like the Council of Europe or NATO. Serbia’s continued intransigence would threaten Serbia’s hopes of joining the EU and receiving greater amounts of Western investment.
SERBIA DEPLOYS TROOPS FOR ‘COMBAT READINESS’ ON KOSOVO BORDER
NATO peacekeeping mission KFOR marks the 20th anniversary of its formation during a ceremony in Pristina, Kosovo on June 11, 2019.
(REUTERS/Laura Hasani)
“The EU proposal was presented to the Parties as a basis on which to work to achieve progress in the Dialogue on the normalization of their relations and get us out of permanent crisis management as we have seen since last summer with incidents, escalations and clashes. , to a more sustainable standardization process,” Peter Stano, the European Commission’s senior spokesman for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told Fox News Digital.
However, the EU proposal has not been made public as diplomatic efforts are ongoing and its long-standing policy of not commenting on alleged leaks or media reports claiming to have seen or published the document, Spano added.
The United States fully agrees with the EU proposal. “The proposal offers enormous opportunities for Kosovo and Serbia on their paths towards EU and economic development. During recent meetings in Pristina and Belgrade, we reiterated the urgency of rapid progress to avoid the risk of further escalation and elevate the Dialogue above of the cycle of constant crisis,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Tensions have risen along the Kosovo-Serbia border as NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping mission remains a buffer between the two states. October 2, 2021.
(Photo by Laura Hasani/Reuters)
Despite the positive news, Western officials fear that Russia, concerned about the invasion of Ukraine, could use the opportunity to thwart any plans and meddle in a region where Moscow wields significant cultural and political influence. Russia exercises its soft power in support of its Christian Slavic and Orthodox allies in Serbia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep the Balkan region divided and prevent it from integrating comfortably into institutions like NATO and the EU. Moscow supports anti-Western and often corrupt officials in Serbia and the Balkans who disrupt good governance measures that must be put in place to join the EU. From Putin’s perspective, causing trouble in the Balkans is an easy and cheap way to drive a wedge into Europe.
SERBIA: RED CARPET WELCOME TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN DESPITE WESTERN CRITICISM
At its disposal, Russia uses its energy resources and extensive intelligence networks in the region to fuel propaganda, conduct cyber espionage, and finance sympathetic political parties. Belgrade also imports nearly a quarter of its oil from Russia and signed a three-year gas deal with Russia, taunting Europe’s turn away from Russian energy.
Although the EU is Serbia’s largest donor, Russia uses its influence to curry favor with like-minded politicians, media figures and Serbian citizens to promote its anti-Western and anti-American worldview in a vulnerable corner of Europe. Serbian society is also partially receptive to Russian narratives, particularly about Ukraine. A survey of the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia shortly after the February 24 invasion showed that most Serbs blamed the United States and NATO for the war, not Russia.
“This support is due, at least in part, to Russia’s attitude towards Kosovo, but also to general disappointment in the West, illustrated by a declining number of people who believe that Serbia should join the EU,” said Helena Ivanov, research associate at the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital.
While Europe has shown remarkable unity in both rhetorical and material support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, Serbia has been a thorn in European solidarity and has even increased cooperation with Russia. Moscow and Belgrade signed an agreement in October 2022 to consult on foreign policy matters. Alignment of national foreign policy with EU foreign policy is a requirement for membership, so the deal with Russia could prove highly problematic for Serbia’s EU membership aspirations.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has been in power for a decade and is often considered one of the most pro-Russian leaders in Europe.
(Photo by Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
ANONYMOUS CLAIMS SERBIA IS ‘PUTIN’S PUPPET’, RUSSIA SEEKS TO EXPAND WAR IN EUROPE AND ‘DISTROY THE WEST’
The European Union and NATO would like to see a resolution to the conflict, but President Vucic is an enigmatic figure who likes to play both sides of the divide. Although Serbia is an EU contender, Vucic regularly speaks of Serbia’s ties to Russia and his personal connection to Putin for domestic political purposes. Like Putin, Vucic often invokes the trauma of the 1990s to bolster a grievance narrative that Serbia was the victim of Western overreach.
Russia’s war in Ukraine, while solidifying European unity not seen since Cold War days, has turned Vucic’s pragmatic attempt to play both sides on its head. Serbia joined UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, annexation referendums in the eastern Donbas region, and voted to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
Although Vucic has turned against Russia in some ways, Serbia remains one of the few nations that was reluctant to join the sanctions against Russia after the invasion. Furthermore, while almost all the nations in Europe have closed their airspace to Russian flights, Serbia has kept its airspace open. To further complicate the balancing act Vucic finds himself in, the Serbian military trains with NATO and Russia.
“So far, President Vucic has successfully maintained this balancing act, however, the space for this balancing act continues to shrink as EU and US representatives continue to press Serbia to align with West,” Ivanov said.
The territorial dispute between Serbia and Kosovo after the 1999 war is unresolved and is an obstacle to further European integration. Kosovo was a former province of Serbia and was once integrated within the nation of Yugoslavia. NATO led a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, which included Serbia and Montenegro, to defend Kosovo Albanians against violence from Belgrade. Nearly a decade later, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, and Serbia has so far refused to recognize its independence.
People hold a large Russian flag during a rally in support of Russia in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, March 4, 2022. Serbia rejects calls by the European Union to join sanctions against Russia, citing national interests.
(AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
INCREASED RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN THE BALKANS, BALTICS, CENTRAL EUROPE
The NATO intervention, which Russia opposed at the time, remains a bitter point of contention with the West and is often used by Putin to justify his paranoia about NATO encroaching on historic Russian territory. Persistent resentment of what Russia perceived to be a flagrant violation of international law by NATO and a refusal to recognize Russia’s interests continues to play a significant role in the narrative about the war in Ukraine.
“In Serbia, where officials frequently play the victim card, Russia is portrayed as just siding with the victims rather than what they perceive to be the NATO ‘perpetrators’. As such, the anti-NATO card resonates with many Serbs across the region, from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Leon Hartwell, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Fox News Digital.
The EU is often criticized for not taking a tougher stance against Serbia and its bipartisan stance towards Russia. However, observers point out that the recent EU pressure campaign could eventually lead Serbia to change its behavior and move closer to the West.
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