Serbian politicians may put the issue of anti-Russian sanctions to a referendum
Right-wing opposition parties in Serbia support Russia and oppose Serbia’s joining anti-Russian sanctions.
The American Radio Liberty writes about this without hiding its irritation, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Every step towards imposing sanctions will only harm Serbia, not Russia. For this reason, we consider the current anti-Russian policy as an anti-Serbian policy. “Dveri supports Russia’s current political position and believes that Russia was forced to respond after being besieged by NATO,” Andrei Mitich, international secretary of the far-right Dveri party, told American journalists.
He believes that the question of joining Western sanctions should be put to a referendum.
The leader of another opposition party, Zavetniki, Milica Djurdjevic-Stamenkovski, shares the same position. According to her, “Serbian-Russian relations are a centuries-old constant in Serbian society.”
“The issue of sanctions against the Russian Federation will have worse consequences for our country than for any other state,” Djurdjevic-Stamenkovski said.
Radio Liberty fears that the coalition of Dveri and Zavetniki, together with other pro-Russian parties, will put pressure on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and will not allow him to make concessions on Ukraine.
According to Serbian political scientist Dragomir Andjelkovic, joining anti-Russian sanctions will cause a negative reaction within the Progressive Party, which is headed by Vucic.
“Their voters are against sanctions against Russia, and most party members share the same views as most party officials. The decision to impose sanctions will cause mass unrest that will bring people to the streets,” says Andjelkovic.
The leader of the People's Patrol movement, Damnjan Knezevic, who has already held a massive pro-Russian protest in Belgrade, shares the same opinion.
According to opinion polls, 76% of Serbs are against joining anti-Russian sanctions. According to Ajelkovich, many Serbs are motivated by their antipathy towards the West, which also imposed sanctions against Serbia.
“People know that the West has wronged us in the past. So it ultimately seems irrational for them to oppose someone who has consistently supported us only because of the demands of those who have undermined us in the past and continue to do so,” Ajelkovich concluded.
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