“They started talking more about Serbia in Russia” – a collection of hot articles about the Balkans was presented in Belgrade
The new book “Russia and Serbia at the Turns of History” was presented at the largest second-hand book event in the region – the Belgrade Book Fair last Tuesday. It was published by the Veche publishing house in 5 thousand copies.
The book contains about 30 articles on topics relevant to the Balkans.
The authors were experts, historians, and journalists who shared their views on options for resolving the Kosovo issue; they analyzed the events taking place in the southern outskirts of Serbia, the Presevo Valley, which today has turned into another “red” zone, and other issues.
The PolitNavigator correspondent in Belgrade talked with one of the authors of the project, Dmitry Lane.
– Dmitry, tell us how and who came up with the idea to make this unique collection?
– The idea to create a book came from our friend, political scientist, director of the Progressive Politics Foundation and creator of the balkanist.ru portal Oleg Bondarenko. Over time, a kind of “Balkan club” formed around him, where people share their opinions about what is happening in Serbia and the region.
As a result, Oleg decided to put the most interesting materials into a book. The collection contains my article “An Open Pandora’s Box,” which contains the opinions of Serbian analysts on possible options for demarcation with Kosovo, as well as two reports by my wife Katarina Lane from the new “hot spots” – Sandzak and Presevo.
– Do the authors of the texts know each other?
– In general, the circle of experts dealing with the problems of the Balkans is not so large. Yes, we know almost everyone, and we even worked and are working with many of them.
– What are the main themes of the publications and materials collected in this collection?
Everything is up to date. In addition to the Kosovo issue, there are essays on historical topics about the origins of modern problems between Serbs and Albanians, about Russian influence in the region and the presence of Russian media, about the difference between Montenegrin and Belgrade protests.
The collection also includes reports from Sandzak and the Presevo Valley. There, the aggravation of the situation on the external political borders of Serbia caused attempts by certain political forces to score points on the ideas of separatism.
– What audience is this publication intended for, who will be interested in the book?
We hope that our book will be of interest to a wide range of readers. In Russia (it was published in Russian), ordinary people know little about Serbia; it is in many ways terra incognita for the residents of our country. Therefore, they will discover a lot of new things.
It will also be interesting to read it for people involved in the Balkan agenda; they will be able to find out the opinions of their colleagues, experts, and journalists.
– Why, in your opinion, is Russian interest in the Balkans growing?
– Russians’ interest in Serbia has really increased recently. Many factors played a role in this. Serbia has gone through a lot this year, and the Russians, as a people historically close to the Serbs, take Serbian problems to heart.
In addition, tourism is developing, which is facilitated by the visa-free regime, people are increasingly coming here, they like it here and they come back, because the friendly people captivate them with their hospitality.
Information policy also plays a role: in Russia they began to talk more about Serbia and this has a positive effect on mutual relations between our countries.
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