Two of the world's almost always opposing powers, the United States of America and Russia, have now agreed on one thing - the elections in Serbia were fair.
Christopher Hill, Ambassador of the United States of America to Serbia, first said that the US government looks forward to continued cooperation with the Government of Serbia on issues of mutual interest, and then that "violence and vandalism towards state institutions have no place in a democratic society". and called on the police to, while maintaining public order, make every effort to protect the dignity and rights of citizens.
The messages of the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Bocan-Kharchenko, were not significantly different either. He also stated that the protests in Serbia are organized and carried out according to the principles and technologies of the "Maidan revolution", that "the West intends to bring opposition forces to power in the country", but he emphasized that "no goals or Maidan schemes" will pass.
Where do similar messages come from?
For Milan Krstić, assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, such an unexpected reaction and similar messages sent by the USA and Russia in the context of current protests and disputed election results, especially for Belgrade, are the consequence of a foreign policy based on the premise "give everyone what they want most ".
"This foreign policy is based on giving the West what it wants most, but in a veiled form, while Russia is mostly given a pro-Russian narrative and a, so to speak, public closeness to the Russian Federation," says Krstić for "Time".
In this particular case it means the following.
Three messages to the West
Krstić asserts that at the press conference of President Aleksandar Vučić, at which everyone expected that we would get some answers regarding election manipulations, and not an overview of what Vast is planning, three important foreign policy messages were slipped through and all three were intended for the West .
"The first is that, within the framework of infrastructure, Serbia is working a lot on diversifying energy sources, which means reducing gas dependence on Russia, which means reducing Russian political influence," says Krstić.
Another important message, according to him, was that Belgrade will fulfill everything that is expected of it in the dialogue with Pristina, apart from that it will not support Pristina's membership in the United Nations, even though neither the Brussels nor the Ohrid agreement mentions state support but not acceptance, which is a different category.
"And thirdly, when asked about the position of the spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, that a new Maidan is being prepared in Serbia, we had the president's answer that he is not in contact with Zakharova, which is also a symbolic message that contacts with high-ranking Russian officials do not exist . They exist with the ambassador, but not with the highest Russian officials," observes Krstić.
As he says, these three messages were directly intended for Americans and Europeans.
"The essence of these messages was 'I will deliver what you expect.' In my opinion, this is the direct reason why I have such open support, especially from the USA, which looks after its own interests," concludes Krstić.
Something for Russian ears too
As for Russia, in his opinion, she also got something that she needs at the moment.
"Perhaps not so many essential things, but it received a narrative legitimization of its ideological concept against color revolutions by the fact that the Maidan narrative was accepted here, not by all, but by some actors close to the authorities." It is also significant that the prime minister thanked the Russian services for the information provided. Russia is currently quite ostracized in the European context, and now it is getting confirmation on a narrative level that there are countries that agree with it that color revolutions are the greatest evil and that there are countries that continue to cooperate in security and receive information from the Russian security service with a high degree of relevance . It is a symbolic foreign policy point for Russia, but at the moment it means a lot," Krstić believes.
Milan Krstić also emphasized that the moment in which the Government of Serbia is important recognizes RKS plates and that is the beginning of the implementation of the Brislek and Ohrid agreements.
"This decision comes on a day when the US is speaking out against attacks on institutions. "After January 6 and the storming of Capitol Hill, they are very sensitive to such events, especially the Democrats, but I think that geopolitical interests are crucial here and Vučić is showing more cooperation," said Krstić.
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