Varga: Serbia is using Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to revive the idea of a Greater Serbia

Serbia is using Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to revive the idea of a Greater Serbia, political analyst Boris Varga has said.

“The war in Ukraine has awakened revanchist sentiments not only in Serbia, but also in all the republics where the idea of a Greater Serbia existed and was defeated at the end of the 1990s, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo. Even before the aggression against Ukraine, the idea of a Greater Serbia became the idea of a ‘Serbian-Russian world’ through Russian moderation”, Varga told the Vojvodina-based Autonomija portal.

He assessed that Russia cannot cause a war in the Western Balkans similar to the one in the last decade of the 20th century because of, as he put it, “NATO’s destruction of Serbia’s military potential”.

“But Moscow can still create obstacles and provoke crises because the Serbian world is offering itself to Russia, seeing the Ukrainian war model as a potential opportunity and revenge for wars previously lost. The renewed Greater Serbia idea sees in Putin’s war in Ukraine a model of a solution for the Serbian issue as well,” Varga said.

He added that since the start of the war in Ukraine, Serbia has been seen in the world as a “pro-Putin state”, which is a very bad reputation for European integration.

“In the West, a picture of a right-wing party was published with Russian flags, Putin’s portraits and the symbol of the occupation – the letter Z. The civilised world was shocked and it was clear that Serbia had not come to terms with its recent past, with its war crimes, and that it was not ready for EU membership,” Varga said.

He added that no one wants to see Serbia isolated again, as the experience of the 1990s had been bitter and painful for all sides.

“This means, most likely, for a long time the Turkish model of European integration – wedding parties are here, but there are no weddings.” This model could also await Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia,” Varga said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, he said, is using the Kosovo issue and his relationship with Russia as a cover for “warm-cold” negotiations with the West, but also to strengthen autocracy in Serbia.

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