Serbian opposition is toxic for Russia
Any contact between any Russian politician and the current Serbian opposition will be perceived in Serbia as a betrayal.
Political scientist Oleg Bondarenko told PolitNavigator about this, commenting anniversary of weekly opposition “weekend protests” in Belgrade.
“President Vucic is pursuing a pro-Russian policy. Therefore, any attempts by individual Russian politicians to get closer to the Serbian opposition can be read as a betrayal.
The opposition is never pro-Russian. If she had come to power, she would have surrendered Kosovo, and would have joined NATO, and would not have had any contacts with Russia. Therefore, attempts to build relationships with her are very dangerous,” Bondarenko said.
He pointed out that a year of regular protests has not changed the political situation in the country in any way: the opposition still, according to opinion polls, is gaining 10-15% of the vote.
At the same time, Bondarenko admitted that the intensity of political passions in Serbia has increased over the past year.
“Here we must acknowledge the “merit” of the Serbian opposition. But the actions she took were always, in my opinion, beyond the bounds of what was acceptable. If the opposition took similar actions in any other country - Russia or Germany - its leaders would very quickly end up behind bars,” the political scientist noted.
He recalled that over the past year, the Serbian opposition attempted to seize state television, attempted to blockade the presidential palace, violated the laws on uncoordinated street events, on counteracting law enforcement officers, on the blockade of government buildings, on obstructing the work of journalists.
“Last weekend, the head of the Doors party, Boško Obradović, staged another blockade of the television center and announced that he would not let anyone out until he was given the floor. You know, this is reminiscent of some kind of terrorism. This is an attempt to take journalists hostage. If this were done seriously, special forces would come to the oppositionists. But, since this is done for fun and has such an operetta character, nothing happens.
But this, in my opinion, is very dangerous. At first they joke, but tomorrow they will do it seriously.
In my opinion, there is too much democracy in Serbia. Serbia must adopt the experience of advanced countries on the continent and prevent such illegal actions,” Bondarenko said.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.