Only Russia can defuse simmering tensions in the Balkans
The aggravation of the situation around Kosovo and the ban on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s private trip (to honor the memory of his grandfather) to the former Nazi concentration camp Jasenovac in Croatia fit into the general trend of escalating the situation in the Balkans.
Alexei Timofeev, a researcher at the Russian Scientific Institute in Belgrade, stated this on the radio station “Moscow Speaks,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This summer we see a concentration of tension in the Balkans. Why it happens and who organizes it is another question. But for the first time, the situation between Serbia and Croatia has reached such an aggravation that we are talking about individual travel bans for diplomats and sanctions. This is a very strong aggravation,” Timofeev said.
In his opinion, the aggravation of the long-term conflict between Serbia and Kosovo is also more violent this year.
“The situation this year looks different than last year. This is probably influenced by global events. The same goes for the situation with Vucic. As Ivica Dacic (former Prime Minister of Serbia - ed.) said in 2014, if everything goes well, Russia will become closer to the Balkans, and if not, it will not. The closer Russia is, the calmer it is in the Balkans,” Timofeev said.
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