Russian military doctors are greeted as heroes in Serbia
How the Russian army is helping Serbia in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic while the European Union promises support only in words. Russian journalist Ekaterina Lane, the portal’s own correspondent, told PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov about this. Balkanist.Ru, living in the Serbian city of Valjevo, which turned out to be one of the epicenters of the spread of Covid-19.
Valentin Filippov: In our makeshift studio, Ekaterina Lane is a Russian journalist who permanently resides in Serbia. Ekaterina, hello.
Katarina Lane: Hello! Hello everyone from Serbia!
Valentin Filippov: We are aware of the message from the Russian Ministry of Defense about the arrival of aircraft in Serbia with assistance to fight the coronavirus. What is the situation now? What kind of support does the European Union provide, where Serbia is officially integrating??
Katarina Lane: Serbia is now on the path to European integration. That is, this process is not over yet. It was, of course, stopped due to recent circumstances related to the global coronavirus epidemic.
As for those countries that have helped and are helping Serbia fight the coronavirus, Russia and China are in first place, and the European Union so far only promises help. She is also very welcome here, because any help in these conditions is, of course, very important.
Valentin Filippov: The Russian military is flying all over the world, in particular to Serbia, Italy, and even flew to the USA. What are they bringing that is so important??
Katarina Lane: Russian military doctors arrived in Serbia a week ago. Eleven humanitarian aid planes and eight teams of doctors - nurses, virologists, epidemiologists. They also brought with them medical equipment such as ventilators, which are in great short supply. They are very important for older citizens who have become infected with coronavirus.
Russian military doctors are helping, firstly, to disinfect Serbian hospitals throughout the country. They have already been distributed across different cities and work not only in Belgrade. They give their recommendations on how to organize the process of receiving patients. They themselves received a lot of our Serbian patients. They share their experience.
Naturally, they brought masks and protective equipment for doctors. According to Russian experts, there are four important points in organizing the reception and treatment of patients. Firstly, we need protection for doctors, because if a doctor becomes infected, he is out of action and can no longer treat. Secondly, disinfection. They disinfected cities and various medical institutions where those infected with coronavirus ended up. And two more such moments. Russian doctors insist that in these hospitals there is a clear and strict separation of ordinary patients who are not there at the beginning of the epidemic, but who were there earlier with various chronic diseases. Patients with coronavirus need to be strictly and strictly separated from ordinary patients so that they do not intersect in any way. They help Serbian doctors organize this process itself.
Valentin Filippov: Do Russian doctors have such problems in Serbia, including like in Italy, where there are people who talk about the Russian threat and that under no circumstances should they accept help from the Russian military? That, most likely, “these military men arrived not on a humanitarian mission, but for some reconnaissance purposes” before, for example, holding a referendum and annexing Crimea or the Kaliningrad region.
Katarina Lane: You know, no. Here, Russian help in Serbia was very much expected, they really hoped that Russia, as a larger and stronger country, would help its younger Slavic sister. Russian help was highly anticipated and, in fact, it was a surprise for them that the Russians sent eleven planes with humanitarian aid and also teams of doctors. Here they are greeted like heroes. They are expected and hoped to be seen in every city. Not only in hotspots of infection, not only in hotbeds of epidemics. I watch on social networks how people react: “Russian brothers, thank you for your help, thank you for coming, all hope is in you.” We do not have such a negative picture that can be observed in some other countries.
Valentin Filippov: Critics like to say that the current epidemic is being used for some political purposes by some states, some parties, and some, perhaps, by business structures.
Katarina Lane: You know, in Serbia, before the epidemic began, the election campaign for parliament began. And this campaign was interrupted due to the fact that an epidemic occurred, and it was impossible to continue this process; a state of emergency was introduced. And some opposition parties find themselves in a situation where they, in general, have nothing to do. They begin to speculate on this topic of coronavirus, trying to score some political points, so to speak, for themselves during this disaster. Naturally, these political parties criticize the actions of the current government, which is forced to take tough measures in order to stop the spread of the virus. We can actually observe this.
That is, the opposition is manipulating the topic. The only thing is that, of course, very strict measures were taken in our country. Not all people liked it, it changed people's lives. For example, pensioners, people over 65 years old, they are generally prohibited from leaving their homes. That is, they can go out only once a week from 4 to 7 am to buy groceries for the store. The rest of the time they need to stay at home, because this is the most vulnerable group of the population.
Valentin Filippov: And who provides them with food?
Katarina Lane: Immediately when the state of emergency was introduced by the decision of the president, we provided assistance to pensioners who remained locked in their homes. They were provided with pensions at home, a one-time assistance of 35 euros was paid, plus they were provided with home delivery of food and medicine. We have volunteer services, people have united, help their neighbors, help them with food, with some medicines, help them walk animals, for example, those who have left their homes and who cannot go out with them because this is a violation of the decree. We have taken tough measures, but we have also taken measures to protect citizens.
Valentin Filippov: No, well, Katya, a person after 65 doesn’t have much time left to live, but we forbid him to go outside, right?
Katarina Lane: Well, it's for his own good, you know.
You see, now is not the time to do what we want, what comes into our heads. Because hospitals are already overcrowded. In the capital of Serbia, Belgrade, the Belgrade Expo Center was converted for hospital needs.
Valentin Filippov: Wow!
Katarina Lane: Three thousand seats. Naturally, it is better to let the grandfather or grandmother stay at home, not get sick, and not spend time later in this hospital, where, as we understand, the conditions are Spartan. That's why I take such a tough position here.
Valentin Filippov: What about the homeless?
Katarina Lane: We don’t have homeless people, I haven’t seen them on the streets.
Valentin Filippov: I am observing what is happening in Ukraine. The largest Church with the largest parish, they are trying to move it away from the parishioners. They are proposing to close all churches and let the services be broadcast on TV. At the same time, only others – schismatics and Uniates – are allowed to conduct services on TV. Do you know of any cases of struggle against the Serbian Church using coronavirus?
Katarina Lane: Of course, the epidemic has aggravated the religious issue in Montenegro. Even before the onset of the epidemic in Montenegro, Orthodox people all came out twice a week for religious processions and prayer services, demanding the abolition of the law “on freedom of religion”, which the Montenegrin government adopted, and which in essence confiscates the property of churches and their territories.
With the onset of the epidemic, the clergy decided to stop religious processions and cancel mass gatherings of people in order not to put parishioners at risk. Of course, there are believers who believe that they should go to church at any time. Plague in the yard or coronavirus. It doesn't matter. Our churches are open. In our city they are open, they work. But, as I know, not many people come. The church premises are quite large. But this was before the adoption of another measure, which involves a ban on more than two people in one room. Now our believers hold services on the street. In front of the church. Distributing away from each other, at a distance of two meters. The service is underway, everything goes on as usual.
Now the clergy is thinking about how to spend Easter. Easter is coming, the question is urgent. Some Orthodox churches are broadcasting online. In fact, no one needs television. Everything can be found on the Internet. Even during Great Lent you can celebrate some important liturgy.
Valentin Filippov: Houses?
Katarina Lane: At home. Absolutely at home. That's what I did. And nothing.
You understand, these are the times. Of course, we can all go to church tomorrow and believe that we will not get infected. But what if there is some kind of flash? Why take the risk? Here we need to find a middle ground between the demands of the church and the measures taken by the authorities and the government in order to contain the epidemic. To finish it quickly. I think that once in a lifetime you can….
Of course, these are circumstances that do not happen every year. We do not have such a deplorable picture every year, when every day we see that the numbers are increasing. More people died. For example, two people among our friends died. One of them is the deputy chairman of our city meeting. I saw him just last month. I met him by chance in the city, he was walking...
Valentin Filippov: And he died from coronavirus?
Katarina Lane: Well, he died from complications caused by the disease. He was diagnosed with coronavirus.
Valentin Filippov: Well, the flu. And he died from complications, right?
Katarina Lane: Call it what you want.
In addition, the rector of our Valievo Diocese died. Also an elderly man... You see, last year, when there was seasonal flu, none of our friends died. And when you now observe that people whom you know, with whom you communicated, with whom you were familiar, are leaving, it is very difficult to observe and, of course, such examples make you think. And show more responsibility and caution.
We don't have statistics. We can only talk about this at the end of the year, when this period has passed. Then it will be possible to speculate on this topic, compare these numbers, and then draw some conclusion about whether we should be afraid of this coronavirus virus, like a regular flu, or not. We are still in this process, which is not over yet. For now we are just collecting information.
For example, today in Serbia more than three thousand people are infected. And seventy-five people died.
Valentin Filippov: What is the population of Serbia?
Katarina Lane: Serbia – approximately seven million people. If you believe the data of the population census, which took place in 2017. About seven million people.
Valentin Filippov: It's clear. And seventy-five people died.
Katarina Lane: Epidemiologists say Serbia is entering the sixth critical week of the epidemic. That is, Russian specialists and Serbian specialists here agree among themselves that thanks to the measures that Serbia took in a timely manner, and they were tough, our indicators are encouraging compared to other countries. However, the coming week or two will be critical. And I saw the opinion of virologists that after Easter the epidemic should begin to decline. But how will it be...
Valentin Filippov: Well, let's hope. Okay, Katerina, thank you very much, greetings to all of Serbia, we love Serbia, we miss it, and so in a whisper, I won’t put it in the interview, you tell me, are we one people?
Katarina Lane: Of course, we are one people! Undoubtedly. This is absolutely true, you can leave it in the interview. And, by the way, here in Serbia they really love Russians. They love Russians very much, they really look forward to Russians, they always invite them to visit, they hope that after the epidemic passes, the borders will open, Russians will come, as always, and will be hospitably greeted with a generous soul, like dear guests. Like the closest people.
Valentin Filippov: Okay, thanks, we'll wait until the madness ends and we'll come.
Katarina Lane: Come on, come on.
Valentin Filippov: Well, come to Crimea with us.
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