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Putin arrives in Serbia to honour leader and reinforce relations Shaun Walker 6-7 minutes _____ Vladimir Putin <https://www.theguardian.com/world/vladimir-putin> has arrived in Belgradeto bestow a top state honour on the Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić, hoping to shore up one of the few strong bilateral relationships Russia has in Europe and reinforce Moscow’s claims to maintaining influence in the Balkans. Putin is popular in Serbia, where Russian opposition to the Nato bombing of the country in 1999 and the subsequent independence of Kosovo <https://www.theguardian.com/world/kosovo> is still recalled fondly. Vučić, a former nationalist firebrand who now styles himself as a westerniser, has played a delicate balancing act in recent years, courting Europe <https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news> while attempting to maintain good relations with Moscow. Putin, in interviews with Serbian media on the eve of his visit, lashed out at the west for trying to push Russian influence out of the Balkans. “The policy of the United States and some other western nations aimed at asserting their dominant role remains a serious destabilising factor here,” he said. His presidential plane was escorted over Serbian airspace by MiG-29 fighter jets he recently donated to Serbia <https://www.theguardian.com/world/serbia> . Western nations have expressed unease at what they believe to be Russian meddling in the region, including an apparent coup attempt in Montenegro <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/11/serbia-deports-russians-suspected-of-plotting-montenegro-coup> , attempts at destabilisation in Bosnia <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/13/bosnian-serb-police-arms-purchase-stokes-eu-fears> and a humanitarian centre in southern Serbia that some western intelligence agencies believe has been a front for spying. Putin claimed the EU was forcing Serbia to make an “artificial choice” between Moscow and the west. He complained about the expansion of Nato into the Balkans, with Montenegro joining the military alliance in 2017 <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/25/montenegro-tensions-russia-joins-nato-member> after a knife-edge referendum, and Macedonia now closer to joining after recently ratifying an agreement <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/11/macedonias-parliament-votes-to-accept-new-name> to change its name to North Macedonia and end a long-running dispute with Greece. Vučić, in an interview <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/26/now-chance-kosovo-deal-serbian-president-what-cost-aleksandar-vucic> with the Guardian in Belgrade last year, insisted that Serbia’s priority was further integration with the EU, but said he wanted to keep warm relations with Putin. “We are militarily neutral, we have no aspirations to join either Nato or the Russian alliance,” he said. “Whenever I was having a press conference with Putin I was saying I was on an EU path. We have a good relationship with Russia and we have no problems with Russia <https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia> but we are on our EU path.” In a ceremony, Putin will present Vučić with the Order of Alexander Nevsky, which in the past has been awarded to the autocratic leaders of Kremlin-friendly, post-Soviet countries. The Russian president will then meet one-on-one with Vučić as well as having a broader meeting with regional politicians including Milorad Dodik, one of the members of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency and the former president of Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated part of Bosnia. He has courted Russian support and spoken openly of his desire for Republika Srpska to secede from Bosnia and join Serbia. Also present, according to local media reports, will be two Montenegrin politicians who have been accused by their country’s authorities of having links to the alleged Russian-backed coup attempt. Much of the agenda for Vučić and Putin will revolve around an EU-brokered settlement between Serbia and Kosovo, possibly involving an exchange of territories, that Vučić has been attempting to sign with his Kosovo counterpart, Hashim Thaçi. Both leaders are keen to sign a deal despite widespread opposition among their populations, and an unease about redrawing borders among much of the international community. The deal is likely to involve Serbia acknowledging Kosovo’s independence without formally recognising it, and would pave the way for Kosovo to join the UN and for both countries to join the EU. However, Russian support is crucial, given its veto on the UN security council, and Putin may not support a deal that puts Serbia further on the path to EU integration. Putin’s visit comes amid large-scale protests against Vučić in Belgrade. On Wednesday evening, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Belgrade for the latest instalment of the protests, which began in early December. The marches have decried lack of rule of law and media freedom under Vučić’s government, though Wednesday’s protest was specifically linked to the first anniversary of the murder of Oliver Ivanović <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/16/oliver-ivanovic-serb-politician-in-kosovo-shot-dead> , a Serbian politician in northern Kosovo. There were suggestions that the Serbian government was organising pro-Putin rallies in Belgrade on Thursday in an attempt to show it could also mobilise supporters, with the newspaper Jużne Vesti claiming that government workers in the southern city of Niš were being bussed into the capital to attend rallies. As 2019 begins… … we’re asking readers to make a new year contribution in support of The Guardian’s independent journalism. More people are reading our independent, investigative reporting than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. 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