Serbia feted Russia’s Vladimir Putin with troops, tanks and fighter-jets yesterday to mark seven decades since the Red Army liberated Belgrade, balancing its ambitions of European integration with enduring reverence for a big-power ally deeply at odds with the West.
The display of military pomp, at a moment when the West says Russian troops are making war in Ukraine, laid bare the balancing act Serbia – a candidate for membership of the European Union – has been forced into by a crisis recalling the Cold War.
It demonstrated, too, Russia’s influence in the Balkans, which like much of Eastern Europe is dependent on Russian gas.
The government demonstrates such servility towards Russia, which is our ally only when it suits it
Before thousands of onlookers, more than 3,000 soldiers marched in Belgrade’s first military parade since 1985, when it was the capital of socialist Yugoslavia. Tanks rumbled behind them and jets tore through the rainy skies above. Putin looked on, having received Serbia’s highest state decoration, the Order of the Republic of Serbia. Nazi-occupied Belgrade fell to the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans on October 20, 1944, but the parade was held on Thursday, October 16, to accommodate Putin, on his way to Milan for an EU-Asia summit set to be dominated by Ukraine and fears of a new European gas crisis.
But despite the red-carpet treatment and lofty talk of Slav brotherhood, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said his country would not veer from a strategic shift west over the 15 years since it was at war with Nato over Kosovo.
“Serbia is on its European path, and we will not give up on that path,” he told a joint news conference with Putin. Notably, Vucic spoke by phone on Wednesday evening with US Vice President Joe Biden, though Washington’s ambassador to Serbia declined an invitation to attend the parade.
Serbia, which began negotiations this year on joining the 28-nation EU, has refused to join the Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its backing of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, despite EU pressure to align its foreign policy.
Belgrade still has time, however, with EU accession unlikely before 2020 at the earliest. For the Serbian government, Putin’s visit is popular with many voters, for whom fellow Orthodox Christian Russia is still Serbia’s protector. For Putin, the parade will play well at home, with the Russian economy taking a hit from the sanctions.
Thousands turned out to watch, but not everyone shared in the brotherly love.
“Russia is our mother, and with or without Liberation Day, the Russian President deserves a parade,” said 56-year-old carpenter Milorad Lazic.
But 29-year-old clerk Aleksandra Pasic said: “It’s such a shame they moved Liberation Day four days, and this rain is divine punishment. This government demonstrates such servility towards Russia, which is our ally only when it suits it.”