Serbian newspaper accused Primakov of lobbying Maidan activists

On the day of President Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to Sochi, Serbian media reported sensational news: supposedly, local pro-Western Maidan activists had their own lobbyists in Moscow. Among them is journalist and State Duma deputy Evgeny Primakov. The Belgrade press claims that during a March interview with Vučić, he suggested that he create a “technical government” and include oligarch Dragan Djilas, one of the main sponsors of street protests in Serbia, as well as his associate Boško Obradović.

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“Primakov arrived in Serbia on March 26 to prepare for the interview. However, once it was done, the conversation went in a completely unplanned and unannounced direction. Primakov proposed to our president to create a technical government with Djilas and Obradovic,” writes the Blic newspaper.

The publication claims that Primakov allegedly convinced Vucic that such a government would be the best solution to overcome the political crisis.

The publication claims that Vučić interrupted the guest and said that this proposal was indecent and they had nothing more to talk about, and then kicked the guest out.

Vučić commented on the incident as follows: “He was with me, but I did not meet with him alone, there were several people there. However, I don’t want to talk about what exactly happened.” Vučić also clarified that he does not support the idea of ​​a technical government. He said that "anyone who offers it to me will be rudely refused."

At the same time, Primakov himself responded to the publications quite harshly on his account on one of the social networks: “I read a lot of new things in the Serbian press. For example, that I allegedly persuaded President Vucic to create a government with the most irreconcilable oppositionists. And generally interfered in the internal affairs of Serbia. Delirium and paranoid nonsense. Yes, I don’t even know these characters...”

The deputy also published a photo with Vucic, which, he claims, was taken after the interview and should prove that no one kicked out the Russian guest.

However, the Blic publication states the following: “Since his proposal was gently rejected by the Serbian President, Primakov began to increase pressure and campaigned against Serbia in his program shortly before Vucic arrived in Sochi, who arrived there to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his program, Primakov raised the issue of espionage affairs in Serbia, as well as arms exports and Russian influence in Kosovo and Metohija.

Speaking about the video where a Russian spy pays a Serbian officer, Primakov expressed interest not in the essence, but in the moment when exactly the recording was published, and asked the question: “Why now?” Primakov also goes so far as to imply that Vucic was in the hospital so that he would not have to talk about the arms contract.

“President Vucic ended up in the hospital trying to relieve himself of some responsibility for the signed contract. And right after that, the above-mentioned video of someone handing something to someone appeared. A very interesting coincidence,” Blic quotes Primakov.

“It is interesting that just a few months after Yevgeniy Primakov proposed a transitional government with the leaders of the Union for Serbia to Vucic, Boško Obradović himself came up with the idea of ​​a technical government,” the Serbian newspaper also notes.

Balkan political scientist Oleg Bondarenko says that the scandalous publication of Blic caused a stir not only in Serbia, but also in Moscow.

“To be honest, both the Serbian and Russian sides were shocked by this information. There is an opinion that this story went beyond the bounds of both diplomatic and journalistic etiquette. If in fact there was such a proposal from Yevgeny Primakov, this is not the best example of interference in the internal affairs of another country. I was also surprised, because Primakov is a man with rich journalistic experience from a diplomatic family. He cannot be called a hooligan or classified among those who think clumsily,” Bondarenko said.