Tahirović: Putin also has his own paramilitary groups in the Balkans

Vladimir Putin also has his own paramilitary groups in the Balkans, Mehmedin Tahirović, PhD in International Relations and National Security and professor at the University of Donja Gorica, told RTV Gradska’s “Znam da znaš” (I know that you know) programme.

“You know about the “Night Wolves”, which are present in Republika Srpska, Serbia, and very often also in Montenegro. They are not the only ones, there are other very important military groups that are waiting for their moment and counting on it to come to them to get their hands on illicit wealth,” Tahirovic said.

When it comes to the Western Balkans, the professor points out, paramilitary groups can only be an “init capsule” to pursue certain political objectives of certain countries.

“We have two very pronounced crisis situations, one is in the north of Kosovo, where the swing of ‘to be or not to be’ has been going on for days, and where every day there could be a certain armed conflict, either between certain Serbian civilian or paramilitary groups organised by Serbia, or between certain groups organised by Kosovo institutions,” Tahirovic explains.

The second problem, Tahirovic adds, is the Republika Srpska (RS), which – in the intense period following Milorad Dodik’s visit to Putin two months ago – is starting to implement a certain model (instructions).

The decisions voted on 27 June in the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (RS) that the decisions of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will not be respected, that the decisions of the High Representative in BiH are not valid for the Republika Srpska, mean the inoperability of the state on the whole territory, and then the possibility that tomorrow Dodik will form his army on the territory of the Republika Srpska and organise a referendum for an independent Republika Srpska, Tahirovic said.

“This cannot be achieved without war events in BiH, which would probably spread elsewhere,” Tahirović said.

Tahirović is confident that a model will be found in Montenegro to become a member of the European Union as soon as possible.

However, Tahirovic stresses that the security sector is one of the things that is not going well in Montenegro, which is divided and somewhat scattered when it comes to professionalism and the influence of the political factor, which must not happen.

“This can be a big problem for us, if we take into account that these things are happening, which are possible in the environment regarding Kosovo and Republika Srpska, then we are in a problem of how to solve the situation in Montenegro, so that it remains stable, because it is divided in the security sector, the country is the most vulnerable,” Tahirović believes.

In Russia, it is a simulation, not an actual attempted coup

In Russia, there is a certain competition between Kadyrov and his members – the Chechen fighters and the Wagner group – to see who can gain more space, gain more popularity and loot more on the field, Tahirović notes.

The fact is that Putin has not declared state of war when it comes to aggression against Ukraine, Tahirović adds, recalling that Putin has called it a special operation, in which mostly mercenary paramilitary groups like Wagner are involved.

“It is known that mercenary groups, also from the experience in the former Yugoslavia, are mostly profiteering groups, so we call them mercenary because they serve on the ground and are assisted by government institutions,” Tahirović said.

Tahirović points out that Yevgeny Prigozhin, as one of Putin’s closest oligarchs, has long proclaimed that he does not have good cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, that the necessary resources for his army to fight on the ground are lacking.

Prigozhin also, as Tahirović recalls, pointed to the incompetence of the military top brass in conducting operations in Ukraine and blamed Minister Shoigu (Russia’s defence minister) for his incompetence.

“Experience shows that when someone is preparing a coup d’état, at least they are trying to carry it out, that is a bit controversial. A five-kilometre-long column travels towards Moscow, before entering Rostov it is reported that it has been captured without a bullet being fired. As a soldier in my former profession, I do not know that a conquest is possible without a single bullet,” Tahirović stressed.

The agreement between Putin and Lukashenko on how to resolve the situation is particularly controversial, according to Tahirović.

“In the end it was as if nothing had happened. Prigozhin was forgiven, the criminal proceedings initiated against him by the FSB were suspended. Other fighters were given the option to join the Russian regular forces or leave the unit. All this cannot be properly analysed without the relevant data,” the professor added.

Tahirović believes that the situation looks more like a simulation than a real coup attempt.

He points out that groups like Wagner, of which there are many in Russia, are a reflection of the lack of proper supervision, which is a very clear indicator of the weakness of the operation, as these groups are mostly created by the state itself.

There are indications that this coup attempt is a warning from the oligarchs to Putin that this way of working must be stopped, Tahirović concluded./Autonomija.info/