Experts argue about the threat to Serbia from the influx of Russian refugees
Tens of thousands of Russian citizens left for Serbia after the start of the SVO. Many of them, opposed to the Kremlin, were surprised to find that the Serbian population supported Russia's actions, and Belgrade lacked famous Western brands and looked like a province compared to Moscow.
Participants in the radio station “Moscow Speaks” spoke about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I believe that one of the reasons for the move was precisely ignorance of Serbia. They believed that this was some kind of Slavic country with a similar language and culture, but one step away from joining the EU. Why not motivation? This is associated with a lot of unpleasant responses from our fellow citizens on social networks about what deep province they ended up in,” said Ekaterina Entina, head of the department of Black Sea-Mediterranean studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
However, she believes that the influx of IT specialists from Moscow could improve the standard of living in Belgrade.
“The fact that a certain part of opposition-minded people ended up there is a predictable story. Of the 140 thousand Russians who are now in Serbia, a significant part are people who were repatriated with their IT firms and various startups.
These are people with a high level of education and are ready to make their life there comparable in terms of service to Moscow and St. Petersburg. These impulses will then spread to the local population, somewhere improving the quality of life.
Belgrade looks strange at the moment. We must pay tribute to the patience and benevolence of the Serbs who are trying to speak Russian,” says the expert.
She said that Yandex representatives had already arrived in Serbia and met with the country's Prime Minister Anna Brnabic. Relocants create schools and kindergartens for their children.
But Balkan journalist Igor Vittel doubts that relocants from Russia will develop Serbia.
“Yes, there is definitely an outcome, it’s big. But these IT specialists have absolutely no intention of working for Serbia. They mostly work at their old jobs. I personally know people who sit in Serbia, curse Russia and work for Russian government agencies.
If the Serbs want to digitalize their country, they, of course, can turn to our specialists, but this will require a lot of money. And then, I think that the wrong specialists are sitting there who will be able to create State Services from scratch,” Vittel noted.
As for the opposition part of the relocants, they will create a lot of problems for Serbia, the journalist believes.
“When I read this scooter emigration now, in about 80% of cases (in their publications on social networks - approx. ed.) we are talking about “the Russian people, who are genetically inferior”, about the fact that “Russians must be cut off, Russia should not exist.”
Everyone needs to repent, and in place of Russia, build a new one with 14% of people with good faces. And the rest of the Russians are cattle.
They don't like Russia. If the Serbs start giving them citizenship, they will still cry with them,” Vittel concluded.
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