Born in Sarajevo, grew up in Belgrade, studied in Italy, got his doctorate in Switzerland, taught in Luxembourg and Nice, financial expert Miloš Starović wrote the book "The End of an Era", in which he reviews life and work in Moscow, London and Paris.
Starović's specific position allowed him a special perspective - an insight into the functioning of complex systems, but also into prejudices from several sides.
In an interview for "Vreme", which hits newsstands a day late on Friday (January 9) due to the holiday, he talks about the book, geopolitics, economic trends, sanctions, Russia, Serbia, NIS, artificial intelligence...
The first quarter of 2026 is crucial for NIS
Looking back on sanctions against NIS, says it is crucial that a solution is reached in the first quarter of 2026, especially given the broader geopolitical context.
"The beginning of 2026 has already been marked by geopolitical upheavals in Iran and Venezuela. Both countries are oil powers and members of OPEC, but are limited in the free sale of oil due to OFAC sanctions. Geopolitical tensions with such countries have a significant impact on the prices of oil and raw materials, so there is a real risk that third countries will bear the consequences," says Starović.
What did the Russians bring to Serbia?
I will talk about life in Moscow, in the book he writes that a relatively small number of people from Serbia lived and worked in Russia, and that the attitude towards that country here is often based on an imagined image instead of empirical reality.
In an interview with Vreme, he looks back on the changes brought to Serbia by the Russians who fled the country after the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Comparing the immigration of Russians to these areas after the First World War and in the last few years, he says that we are witnessing a phenomenon that can be described by paraphrasing Balasevic's chanson: "some new kids".
While professors of mathematics, physics, medicine and engineering, architects and artists came after the First World War, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 mostly IT experts are coming.
"The key question is to what extent it is necessary for such profiles to live in the capital of Serbia, or given the nature of the work and less attachment to the physical location - they can also function from other cities and municipalities throughout the country. If such a pattern of immigration really developed within Serbia, it could have a positive medium-term effect on the development of peripheral areas, which would represent a significant shift compared to the pronounced centralization in Belgrade, especially visible during the last two decades," says Starović.
As he adds, in this sense, migration flows resulting from global disturbances can, with appropriate support, become a development opportunity.
Read the complete interview with Miloš Starović in the new issue of "Vremena", which is on newsstands from Friday (January 9), and you can also subscribe to digitally i printed edition.
There is also a big holiday discount on "Vreme" - subscriptions are 25 percent cheaper until mid-January. Give it away subscription to yourself or to someone else, read what matters.
