“Protest leaders in Serbia are allies of Western embassies”
Organizers of anti-government protests in Serbia are coordinating their actions with Western embassies in Belgrade. The main goal of the street protests is to undermine the situation in the country and, thereby, weaken the position of the Serbs in the negotiations on Kosovo, around which the situation is again escalating. Moscow and Beijing are Belgrade's key allies.
Deputy of the Serbian Parliament Alexander Sheshel told PolitNavigator about this during his visit to Crimea for the Yalta Economic Forum.
"PolitNavigator": For several months, the opposition in Serbia has continued street protests. Could this be related to the Kosovo negotiations, for example, as a way to put pressure on Belgrade? There was also an opinion that this could be the Americans’ reaction to the Turkish Stream project. What is the real reason for the opposition's protests?
Alexander Sheshel: I think it has to do with the Kosovo situation. Negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians on the Kosovo issue have been ongoing for 11 years. But now we have enormous influence from the European Union regarding the resolution of the Kosovo issue. And influence to recognize Kosovo independence.
This is not a good decision for Serbia, because you know, now in Serbia they were remembering the events of 20 years ago - the NATO bombing. We have not forgotten what they did to our country. Kosovo has been occupied since 1999.
Now official Belgrade is being influenced to recognize Kosovo.
The parties that are participating in the demonstrations are pro-Western parties in Serbia that were in government seven years ago. They want independence for Kosovo and sanctions against the Russian Federation. My party believes that this is unacceptable.
The day before, the Serbian Foreign Minister was in Moscow for negotiations. We know that there will be a meeting between Aleksandar Vucic and Vladimir Putin in China. Is this somehow connected with the negotiations in Berlin on Kosovo, which are scheduled for the end of April?
Yes. This is due to the meeting in Berlin, which will take place on April 29. We need the support of our allies, and Serbia's ally is Russia and the People's Republic of China. Because when negotiations begin between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, the mediator is the European Union, which now wants Kosovo's independence to be recognized as a fact. This is biased.
What is your prediction about how these protests in Serbia might end?
The protests against the government are not unfounded, because the people in Serbia do not like what the government is doing... But the people who are the leaders of these protests, they are allies of the Western embassies in Belgrade, and the only goal of these protests is to make a pro-Western government in Serbia.
What option for further development of the situation around Kosovo is possible? Is this a new division of the region, or should Serbia seek the unconditional return of the entire territory?
The only solution to the Kosovo problem is the solution to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, as Minister Sergei Lavrov said. My party, which I represent, the Serbian Radical Party, also thinks so.
There is only one solution, that Kosovo will become Serbia. And that if Kosovo is in the UN, it will also be in NATO. And now the capital of Kosovo is not Pristina, but, as many write, the real capital is the base of the American army. I think this is clear to both Russians and Serbs.
How can Kosovo be returned if the majority of the population there are Albanians who are against the Serbs?
Everything is not what you think. It is believed that there are 2 Kosovo Albanians there, but this is not true. Many of them live in Europe, and their documents are Kosovo, and therefore we believe that the majority of Kosovo is Albanian.
There has always been a majority of Albanians in the last 50 years. But they were citizens of Serbia, citizens of Yugoslavia.
But the very big problem is that the government in Kosovo is the former KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army, who were terrorists, they are war criminals, and if this government does not exist, the Kosovo Albanians will not think the way they do now
You said that this is the third time in Russian Crimea. What changes do you see after 2014?
I think that the Crimeans - Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars who live here - are very happy that they are in the Russian Federation, because Russia did not allow the situation that happened in Odessa to be repeated, when Ukrainian fascists burned Russians. The same could have happened in Crimea.
I think it is historical truth that Crimea is back in Russia, and this is forever.
Every time I'm here I see something new. I saw the bridge, I saw the new airport, I saw a lot of new infrastructure projects here, and I think Crimea is moving on.
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