If it weren't for Russia, the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade would have been recorded in Serbia with routine dashes in the columns "It happened on this day". However, high politics is a miracle: during the arrival of the then Russian president Dimitri Medvedov, in 2009, the cemetery of the liberators of Belgrade was restored; on the eve of the announced arrival of Vladimir Putin, on October 20, two streets in the capital were renamed after partisan commanders Koča Popović and Peka Dapčević.
The situation is paradoxical. During its past work in the last two and a half decades, the ruling political set did everything it could to nip any memory of anti-fascism in the bud (see the text "How Koča and Peko returned to Belgrade"), and now it - like a sudden fall in love to the European Union - it rediscovers itself in its own country as a permanent cultural asset. It can hardly be otherwise: you don't go to Vladimir Vladimirovich's jubilee empty-handed, so Koča and Peko became positive overnight, since it is not to be expected that the Russian president has understanding for Serbian quislings when he does not have it for Andrej Vlasov or Petar Krasnov.
If we judge by the media close to and even closer to the authorities, it is impossible to avoid the impression that this affirmation of anti-fascism is forced, insincere and in the service of daily politics, i.e. - to promote Moscow. That's why "On the valleys and on the hills" is possible, but not "On the forests and mountains". And further, in the same context: the Red Army is a liberating force, and the NOVJ is an "ideological" and, in general, extremely "controversial" armed force; members of the Fourth Mechanized Corps of the Third Ukrainian Front were killed on the streets of Belgrade, and fighters of the "Sixth Lika Division shot civilians in Dedinje"; General Vladimir Zhdanov and Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin are great military leaders, while Koča and Peko are dubious types whose sole aim was to gain power, mansions, luxury... Relativizing, therefore, lying to the eyes and spouting nonsense endlessly the account of the partisans - when they already have to admit something - flattered the Russians. In short, a true subject mentality, the same as the one in relation to the European Union. Undoubtedly, the same will be true of what comes after: despite the declaratively accepted "European values", the government is cemented by all means as soon as the officials leave Brussels; after Putin's departure - if he comes - the revisions and falsifications of his own history will continue again... As much as possible.
To be clear: Nazism was defeated primarily thanks to the Red Army, its merits in the liberation of Serbia and Belgrade are also immeasurable. But when it comes to the latter, the role of NOVJ is no less. No matter how incomparable the proportions of Moscow and the Battle of the Neretva or Stalingrad and the Battle of Sutjeska are, the steadfastness of the Red Army and the partisans to win the freedom and survival of all the peoples of their own countries at any cost is identical. Both armies successfully achieved that goal. That is why, unlike most other capitals in Eastern Europe, the Red Army men in Belgrade were perceived as true allies; that is why the capital of Serbia was liberated and not occupied; that is why Serbia and Yugoslavia were fully the other full members of the anti-fascist coalition.
How far did these simple truths really reach the authorities in Serbia? Will the two partisan generals finally take their rightful place as distinguished war commanders in the fight for freedom and independence together with the dukes of the Serbian Army from the First World War?
One should not expect much from people whose long-term political practice has razed to the ground everything that Koča and Peko fought for. However, if they believe that they have changed and that they learn something new every day, here is their chance to prove themselves. As when it comes to the possible arrival of Vladimir Putin, so - even more so - when he is not there.
