Borislav Milosevic: Serbia enters new round of ideological struggle

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Serbian society today is split and divided, former ambassador of Yugoslavia in Russia Borislav Milosevic said at a news conference on March 11 in Moscow. According to Milosevic, a significant part of Serbian political establishment sees no alternative to Serbia's joining the European Union.

“President Tadic, for example, thinks that we have to join Europe first and then struggle for Kosovo. Others, and they are the majority, are convinced that we have, of course, to move towards Europe; there is a question, however, what kind of Serbia is going to join it: a united or a robbed one? Vojislav Kostunica and representatives of the Serbian Radical Party (SRP) are among those politicians,” Milosevic said.

Now, on the eve of the extraordinary parliamentary election, Serbia is entering a new round of ideological struggle, the ex-ambassador said. “The pro-western forces and their patrons will put it this way: you either choose us, or you go back to the 1990s, to starvation and total isolation. Even if the majority votes for SRP and party of Vojislav Kostunica, the pressure will increase anyway,” Milosevic stressed.

Milosevic thinks that Serbia needs to establish dialog with the uncommitted countries, and not only with Russia but also with other states who have not recognized Kosovo's independence. “I don't think that joining the EU has no alternative for Serbia. Our country is now a moral winner, since even those who are supporting Kosovo's independence realize that they are supporting an unjust cause. Being stronger from the moral point of view can have certain political consequences,” the ex-ambassador said.

President of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies Leonid Ivashov argued at the conference that broad inter-state cooperation with Russia could become for Serbia an alternative to joining the European Union. “Serbs do not need our financial aid, but as early as today, they are ready to export to Russia meat, wine, fruit, and place various industrial orders. This might lead Serbia out of isolation,” Ivashov maintained.

Ivashov said that Russia might also ensure support of its policies in a number of the CIS countries, first of all, Belarus.