The German tabloid Bild asks on its front page whether Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the help of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, is planning to open a new front in the Balkans, as indicated by the announcement of mandatory military service and the silence of the European Union (EU) on Belgrade’s moves.
Bild published an article on its portal entitled “A possible second battlefield in Europe: Is Putin planning the next war here?” in which he states that experts for the Balkans warn about the development in Serbia under Vucic.
The paper quotes Kati Schneeberger from the non-governmental organization “Vienna goes to Europe” who announced on X that if the EU approaches Serbia with the same policy as it does towards Russia, the same result as in Ukraine can happen.
“It can be followed gradually. And no one will be able to say that it was not expected. In the Balkans, with Vucic‘s help and with the deafening silence of EU representatives, Putin will create a second battlefield on European soil before the elections for the European Parliament,” she said.
The German newspaper reminds that in September 2022, on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the foreign ministers of Serbia and Russia signed an agreement on future cooperation, six months after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
It is a “clear signal”, Bild says, adding that Serbia has not yet introduced the sanctions against Russia that were introduced by the EU. The newspaper reminds that in May 2023, the former head of the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA), Aleksandar Vulin, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, participated in a security conference in Moscow.
The head of the office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Serbia and Montenegro, which is close to the CDU, Jakov Devcic, told Bild that “there are clear pro-Russian currents in the Serbian political landscape.”
“Both the former head of the intelligence service Vulin and the minister of foreign affairs Dacic represent pro-Russian positions. Moscow knows how to irritate the West politically,” he said.
Bild proves its thesis by the fact that last year there was a conflict between Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers and Kosovo Serbs when 30 soldiers were injured, but also the escalation of the tense situation after the September conflict between an armed group of Serbs and the Kosovo police in the village of Banjska.
In support of the thesis from the title, the German newspaper also states that in October 2023, instead of the EU-Balkan summit, Vucic traveled to China, where he met with Putin, and on the sidelines of the Silk Road summit, he signed an agreement on free trade with China.
“The second thing is that in January 2024, Serbia announced the re-introduction of mandatory military service. Is it a mobilization”, asks the newspaper.
Devcic concludes that, although the majority of Serbs do not want to recognize the state of Kosovo in any form, the Serbs are not ready to fight for it.
“The situation in the Western Balkans is generally very fragile. Without a greater presence of the West, and thus Germany, in the north of Kosovo, there will be no peace and security in the Western Balkans,” he says, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
