Conflicting messages from Moscow on the protests in Serbia: Is Russia really turning its back on Vucic?

Aleksandar Dugin, who is considered to be an ideologue of Russian President Vladimir Putin, stated in his original programme on Radio Sputnik that Aleksandar Vucic is finished and has no support from the citizens.

He said on air that the legitimacy of the Serbian leader, Aleksandar Vucic, has disappeared.

Let us recall that on 28 June there were new student protests in Serbia, the participants of which are demanding early parliamentary elections. According to the Ministry of the Interior, around 35 000 people gathered in Belgrade.

According to the Archive of Public Assemblies, around 140,000 people were present at the protest in Slavija Square, organised by the students in the blockade, during the commemorative silence. “The final estimate may deviate by up to 10 percent”, AJS explains.

“The state is behind Vucic and has no support from the population”

“All Serbs want Vucic to go. Today, in fact, the state is behind him and has no support from the population. The only thing that is happening is that those people who are afraid of another colour revolution are not taking part in the protests, they are not going to the square, they are not shouting. But Vucic is finished, his legitimacy is gone”, Dugin said.

The Russian philosopher believes that the protesters in the streets reflect the opinion of the whole of Serbian society, which is unlikely to endanger the current government.

“I think these protests are aimed at making Vucic simply disappear somewhere. That is to say, no compromises, no agreements, no realisation of any concrete pragmatic goals will solve the situation here. Vucic must go. This is the opinion of Serbian society”, Dugin concluded.

Dugin’s statement comes amid political tensions in Serbia and has provoked a number of reactions, highlighting the complex relations between Russia and Serbia, especially as Dugin has been criticising the protests for months, saying that the West is carrying out a colour revolution in Serbia.

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russia hopes that the protests in Serbia will be resolved on the basis of the country’s constitution and laws.

“We are monitoring the situation. We are interested in seeing the unrest calm down in accordance with the constitution and laws of this friendly country, as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said”, Lavrov said.

What is Moscow’s real policy?

If we compare Dugin’s statements on the one hand with those of Lavrov and Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesmen who supported Vucic, on the other, we have yet to see what Moscow’s real policy is.

Only a few months ago, on 15 March to be precise, when there was a mass protest by students and citizens against the government in Belgrade, Dugin said that ‘he believes in the Serbian nation and that Serbian patriots will stand in defence of Serbia in these difficult times’.

“I believe that Serbian patriots will stand up for Serbia itself. It does not matter what you think of Vucic, this is not about him, it is about Serbia, which is above every politician and has existed since time immemorial. It is an incredible, fiery and magical country. If you lose it now, you will never be able to get it back”, Dugin said at the time in an interview with Belgrade Politika.

Dugin went on to point out that “Serbs, unfortunately, sometimes betray themselves. This is, after all, your destiny and your history. The two colour revolutions right now can lead to complete disintegration and collapse.”

He also praised the visit of Alexander Vulin to Moscow at that time.

“He was received with the highest honours, which shows the deep and good relations between our two countries,” Dugin explained.

He said that if Serbia now worked more actively on building relations with the Trump administration, it could become a model for European countries.

The architect and “spiritual guide” of the invasion of Ukraine

Dugin is a far-right Russian writer and ideologue who describes himself as the architect or “spiritual guide” of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He has long called for the annexation of Ukraine to Russia and is one of the main ideologues of the Russian neo-Eurasian movement, which political scientists describe as fascist because it promotes a far-right view of Russia’s place on the international stage.

Putin has sometimes echoed Dugin’s expansionist language and views, and although the extent of the ideologue’s influence on the Kremlin is unclear, he is sometimes described as “Putin’s brain”.

He is often portrayed as one of Russia’s leading ideologues close to the Kremlin, as well as to Russian military circles and secret services. He is the darling of the European right, while the left often calls him a fascist. He despises the world elite, American liberalism and Western concepts of democracy, considers the fight against Ukraine a precondition for the revival of the Russian Empire and is the author of the famous statement that the American Empire must be destroyed. This ideologue, who is also known as Putin’s Rasputin, has long been under US sanctions.

It is indicative that, since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has stepped up its diplomatic, and perhaps some other, efforts in the Western Balkans, which the West, apparently with very good reason, sees as the most vulnerable area to possible new Russian actions as a wider consequence of the aggression against Ukraine, not only as a way of damaging the EU and NATO, but also of expanding the Kremlin’s sphere of influence in Europe./The Geopost/