SERBIA – RUSSIAN GUBERNIA (Second part)

Dragan Shormaz për The Geopost

… continuation of the first part

– Economic influence: energy dependence (control of a significant part of the energy sector in Serbia through Gazprom Neft (majority owner of NIS) and Srbijagas, thus exerting pressure on the government; investment and economic interests (lending and investing in strategic sectors, especially infrastructure and energy); trade ties used by Russia to maintain influence. This Russian influence is currently weakest in Serbia, and the reason is the aggression against Ukraine! Serbia is the only European country from which flights to Moscow are flown, and thus serves as a window to Europe for Russia to use for its own interests!

– Security impact and military cooperation: Military-technical cooperation (supplies of Russian weapons and military exercises with the Serbian army) had to be suspended because of the war in Ukraine, but Vucic regularly warns the public that the suspension of this cooperation is the fault of the ‘unfair sanctions’ on Russia! Intelligence influence (infiltration into security structures and cooperation with domestic operatives); the base in Niš, the so-called Humanitarian Centre, which is often mentioned as a potential Russian intelligence stronghold, is the biggest danger for Serbia! The impact on the Serbian security services is so great that many insiders believe that after the fall of Vucic, what will have to be done, which has not been done since 5 October, will have to be done, namely the complete closure of all intelligence services and the creation of new ones!

– Social and cultural impact: the Orthodox Church and identity issues; NGOs and foundations (such as the “Balkan Centre for Strategic Studies” and Russian-funded foundations defending Russian interests); fraternal relations and historical narrative (use of historical themes such as the Serbian-Russian alliance, negative attitudes towards NATO and the West, etc.).

To my great sorrow, it is no secret that the SPC is completely tied to the Russian Church and the whole Orthodox world knows it! Russia is taking advantage of this and spreading its narrative through the clergy of the Serbian Church, which is again against the Christian Western countries, even against Orthodox Ukraine or the Ecumenical Patriarchate!

All of the above are being used by Russia to conduct hybrid activities and special operations in Serbia: Disinformation and psychological warfare (spreading fake news about the West, NATO and the EU in order to strengthen distrust of Western structures); support for extremist groups (contacts with ultra-nationalist and right-wing groups in Serbia that advocate anti-EU and anti-NATO positions); Manipulation of protests and crises (Russia can support or instrumentalize protests, as already demonstrated in the Covid protests, the protests against lithium mining and even the recent student protests, in which it targeted its own people with Russian flags and attacked pro-EU protesters; provoking internal conflicts and political crises in order to destabilize the situation and prevent Serbia from turning against the West); Cyber-attacks and digital pressures (targeting institutions and media critical of Russia).

In short, the Vucic regime is destabilizing the region, but it is causing great damage to Serbia and the Serbs! Not only because he is spreading violence, because he is stifling democracy, because he has installed systemic corruption, but also because Vucic has deliberately made Serbia a province! Vucic will soon be out of power, but the fight against Moscow’s evil in Serbia will continue for years after his fall! Precisely because it is evil, the source of all evil in the world today!

WE WILL DEFEAT THIS EVIL!

/The Geopost