
Serbia is “going from Orban and Erdogan to Putin and Aliyev”, and the changes are leading us to a much more repressive regime than before, said Nebojsa Vladisavljevic, professor at the Faculty of Political Science.
This wider scope of electoral manipulation, the repression after the protests, the re-takeover of the media tells us that we are entering a more repressive phase of this government,” Vladisavljevic told N1.
He added that “whether it will succeed” depends on the opposition and the citizens.
The electoral manipulation, he said, is “broader” than in the past and would not have happened without the cooperation of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government and the State Prosecutor’s Office.
Asked whether he thinks it is realistic to carry out an international investigation into electoral irregularities, he says it is a “big change” that this is even being discussed.
We have had undemocratic elections in recent years, but international actors have not been very interested, the professor said.
He recalls, however, that after the “scandal” of electoral theft, “suddenly there was recognition of the Kosovo registration plates” and there was talk of lithium mining.
“We should not underestimate their (the authorities’) willingness to trade the public interest with various foreign partners in order to satisfy their party or private interests,” Vladisavljevic said.
He believes that the opposition should focus on the media issue, but focusing on the RTS is the wrong approach, because although the public service is the “propaganda bulletin of the government”, it cannot be influenced by the opposition.
One of the priorities should be to allocate a national frequency to one of the independent broadcaster, says Vladisavljevic.
Asked to comment on the fact that former BIA director Aleksandar Vulin was honoured in Moscow, he said that the Serbian government was using the experience and instruments of Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia to fight the opposition.
“Considering what Vulin did when he was in charge of the security agencies, it is obvious that the persecution of the Russian opposition in Belgrade is part of his merits”, Vladisavljevic believes./N1/