For years, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has tried to politically capitalise on his close ties with Moscow, which has helped him maintain his ratings. Connection noises appeared at the start of the war in Ukraine, when this “friendship” was no longer desirable. At least in public. Then comes a slight turn in the relationship between Belgrade and Moscow. The question is whether the relationship between Aleksandar Vucic and Vladimir Putin can be broken so easily, and whether it is all just another show for the public.
Srećko Đukić, a diplomat and former ambassador, said in a statement to Nova.rs that he is convinced that there is communication between Belgrade and Moscow and that this can be seen in some of the moves made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, which mainly concern Kosovo.
“I am convinced that there is communication between Belgrade and Moscow. Of course, it may be difficult for us to prove this today, but it is not something that cannot be ‘captured’ and shown to exist”, Đukić says.
He adds that it is irrelevant whether this communication is direct or through specific channels.
“We can certainly see from certain actions of Aleksandar Vučić that this is the result of certain suggestions or support from Moscow. For example, when it comes specifically to the Kosovo issue, even though Moscow is deeply in trouble, the real question is who it can help today, when it needs to be helped,” Đukić stresses.
Asked whether he thinks the President of Serbia cannot break out of this “embrace”, Đukić replies:
“I think it is an ideological-political conspiracy. Given the roots of the party he leads, these roots are in radical politics, and radical politics in Serbia has always been umbilically tied to Mother Russia. I absolutely do not think that Vucic can detach himself from this, and he never will. Whether it is Kosovo or something else. If it is not Kosovo, it will be something else,” Đukić stresses.
“I always consult Putin”
Vucic himself has repeatedly spoken about the fact that he regularly hears and consults the Russian President.
“I always consult President Putin and ask for his advice. I inform him about what is happening and I do not lie, I tell the truth. Even if he doesn’t always like everything. I think this is one of the things that Putin respects very much,” Vucic once said in an interview with TASS news agency.
It is also interesting to recall the recent statement by Austrian journalist Kristijan Veršić that he had learned from Vucic in December 2021 that Russia would invade Ukraine.
The President of Serbia said the following about this:
“Not because President Putin told me anything, I understood what was going to happen in Ukraine. He always took 45 minutes to talk about Ukraine, and then he didn’t speak for three minutes. That was enough for me. Every time he has a need to explain, and then he no longer has a need, it means that the decision has been taken. I could not have spoken so bluntly, but I made it clear that I expected big changes.”
Secret meetings
When the war in Ukraine started, these contacts were temporarily suspended. At least officially. Until May 2022, when Vucic and Putin spoke on the phone and agreed on a new gas supply contract.
In the meantime, information has emerged about some “secret meetings” with people close to the Russian leadership.
After the idea of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visiting Belgrade, at a time when it was already under heavy EU sanctions, collapsed, Vucic met the Russian Foreign Minister on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. This meeting brought people from the West, so some of the meetings with people close to Putin were tried to be hidden from the eyes of the Serbian public.
For example, the Nova.rs portal revealed that Vucic had secretly met with Sergei Lavrov’s deputy, Aleksandr Grushko.
“I wanted to hide here. I’m stupid and I thought I could hide it. What did I want to hide? Maybe to save Serbia. Let’s say they have everything all right. So why did you accuse me? Why did you condemn the President of your country? What are you, professional whistleblowers? Dear friends in the West, he wanted to hide something from you,” said the Serbian President after the publication of this information.
Not long afterwards, Vucic also met with Turk Daudovi, an adviser to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The Serbian public learned of this from Daudov himself, who boasted of the gift he had given to his host in Belgrade.
At the beginning of his talks with Vucic, Turko Daudov, an adviser to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and one of the active participants in the war in Ukraine, conveyed greetings from Chechnya to the Serbian President and, through him, to the entire Serbian people. But Vucic did not convey his greetings to the Serbian people. On the contrary, he silenced them. There was no news of the meeting on the President’s official website, nor was a press statement sent out.
All of this points to the fact that there is still a strong link between the regime in Serbia and the regime in Moscow.
Putin arrest warrant and “I nearly collapsed”
It is therefore not surprising that Vucic said that he felt sick after the news that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest.
“I almost collapsed when they showed me the news, because I know what it means for our country,” he said, addressing the citizens of Sremska Mitrovica.
He went on to say that this decision shows that the West is ready to go all the way, and that it will put additional pressure on those who are not the most hardline against Russia, and that those who flirt with Putin will suffer terribly.
“When I say this, I am aware of the situation we are facing,” Vucic said.
On this, retired professor of the Faculty of Philosophy Zarko Korać told the Danas newspaper that this is because Vucic perceives Putin as a great and important politician.
“This attitude towards him has been going on since the time when he was in the SRS. Serbian nationalists have historically leaned towards Russia, although Serbia has also had pro-Western nationalists. Vucic was shocked to realise too late that Putin was just a politician whose star on the international stage had finally faded because of the Ukrainian war. The ancient Romans would have said: sic transit gloria mundi,” Korać explains and concludes:
“It is a new blow to Serbia’s policy, which did not impose sanctions on Russia.”