MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is in an extremely difficult position, and his government is literally "hanging by a thread," Karin Kneissl, former Austrian foreign minister and head of the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues (GORKI), a research center at St. Petersburg State University, told TASS in an interview.
"Several weeks ago, tensions escalated, and based on media reports and footage, it seemed that Vucic’s government was hanging by a thread," Kneissl said.
"The current situation in Belgrade appears extremely complex to me," she admitted, explaining that "Vucic makes dramatic statements about an alleged coup d’etat being prepared against him, then suddenly shifts to a much friendlier tone towards Brussels in his next remarks." "Analysis may be easier for me from an outsider’s perspective, but I do not wish to judge Vucic: he is, without doubt, in a very difficult position," the former minister noted. "However, I cannot say I see a clear political course in his actions, which is unfortunate," she added.
In her view, "Vucic, as president, has found himself in an exceptionally tough spot." "As we say, he is walking a tightrope while trying to please everyone simultaneously. On the one hand, he is trying not to lose favor with certain European donors. He continues pushing for Serbia to join the European Union, a process which has been in limbo for years now. On the other hand, he refuses to support sanctions against Russia, for which there are many reasons, including historical ones, perhaps even personal ones for Vucic himself. Either way, he does not want to join the sanctions," Kneissl explained.
Orchestration of Serbian protests
The head of the GORKI center at St. Petersburg State University said that she had "followed the protests [in Serbia] very closely," recalling that "it all started with an incident at a train station in Novi Sad a few months ago." "Since then, protesters have accused the government of corruption, inefficiency, underdeveloped infrastructure and many other things. But these accusations seem rather odd, which suggests that the situation is being controlled from the outside," Kneissl emphasized.
"I tend to believe that these protests, like many before them, for example, the protests against [former president Slobodan] Milosevic, were influenced by third parties. I remember the events of November 2001 very well," the ex-minister noted.
She also pointed out that "there are conflicting narratives within the Serbian government." "I have been reading statements from various cabinet ministers, and they differ drastically. Some say Serbia’s future lies within the European Union. Others insist that history, both distant and recent, ties Serbia much closer to Russia. The old question," Kneissl explained, adding that "it is extremely difficult to predict how this could end."
The head of the GORKI center at St. Petersburg State University admitted that she is "far more familiar with Serbia than with Ukraine." "It would not be entirely appropriate for me to say anything definitive about Ukraine, since I know next to nothing about this country. But I have been to Serbia many times before. In a sense, Serbia is a country very close to the one I come from," Kneissl remarked. She noted that "in Austria, almost everyone knows someone from Serbia, with Serbs being one of the largest diasporas in the country." "After Germans, they make up the largest group of foreign nationals in Austria," Kneissl explained.