Rostislav Ishchenko: The blame for the loss of Kosovo lies with those who call themselves “opposition”
Responsibility for Serbia's loss of Kosovo lies not with Russia, but with Serbia itself. The loss of territories was led to by the so-called “tractor revolution,” whose participants are now in opposition to President Aleksandar Vucic and the government.
Political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko told PolitNavigator about this.
“In Serbia, as in Russia, both among the opposition and among people close to power, there are those who believe that Russia must save everyone in the world: Serbia from Kosovo, Ukraine from Crimea, and so on. It is their right to think so, but any state proceeds from its own interests and capabilities. If Serbia could not hold Kosovo, it is primarily the fault of the Serbian leadership and the Serbian people, who successfully overthrew Milosevic, who resisted NATO troops. It was not Russia that organized the “tractor revolution” in Serbia, after which Kosovo left,” Ishchenko said.
He believes that Russia is now seriously influencing the resolution of the Kosovo problem.
“It does not recognize the sovereignty of Kosovo, but considers it Serbian territory. Russia and other countries that do not recognize Kosovo provide Serbia with the opportunity to resolve this issue in the future. But this, first of all, depends on Serbia. Russia will not conquer Kosovo for Serbia,” Ishchenko said.
“Russia has always helped and is helping Serbia. The problem is that the Serbs are not helping themselves enough. In this regard, the formula is very popular among Russian diplomacy: Russia cannot be more pro-Serbian than Serbia itself,” agrees Russian political scientist Sergei Markov.
Let us recall that Rada Trajkovic, who heads the “daughter” structure of the pro-Western opposition “Union for Serbia” in Kosovo, entered into a public skirmish with the Russian Ambassador. She stated that Serbia lost Kosovo due to insufficient assistance from Russia.
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