American scientist: Serbia is Russia’s only friend in the Balkans
Russia has “neither the ability nor the inclination” to intervene in the situation in the Balkans; its influence is limited to the countries of the “near abroad.”
Visar Khambazi, a researcher at Dominion University in the US state of Virginia, writes about this in The Globe Post, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The Western Balkans are surrounded by EU and NATO members and are more than a thousand miles from Russia, leaving Moscow without direct access to the region. The Russian economy is largely based on the energy sector, and in this regard the country has little to offer the developing countries of the Balkans.
Moscow's regional interests were focused mainly on preventing the remaining Balkan countries from joining NATO. However, so far the strategy of destroying Russia has been unsuccessful,” writes Khambazi.
The only country in which Russian influence is still strong is Serbia, the American scientist believes.
“Serbia remains Russia’s only friend in the region and the only country that regularly participates in Russian military exercises. Serbia shows great support for “big brother” Russia, and it is the only Balkan country that refuses to join sanctions against Moscow for the annexation of Crimea,” Hambazi is dissatisfied.
Let us note that five years ago Russia did not have a single ally in the Middle East except Syria. However, already in 2019, Arab countries vied with each other to invite Putin, and the United States and NATO had lost their authority by the beginning of 2020.
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