<http://www.iht.com/> International Herald Tribune
Serbia increasingly leaning toward Russia; demonizes US and NATO The Associated Press Wednesday, September 12, 2007 BELGRADE, Serbia: If it were up to Serbia's nationalists, the country would now be applying for membership in the Russian federation and selling off its assets to Russian tycoons — all in gratitude for Moscow's blocking of independence for the breakaway Kosovo province. The increasingly vocal calls for closer political and economic ties with Russia have triggered fears in the West that Serbia could drop its proclaimed goal of joining the European Union and NATO, and opt instead for a variation of Russian President Vladimir Putin-style controlled democracy. The nationalist drive for Serbia to abandon its pro-Western polices — adopted after late President Slobodan Milosevic's ouster from power in 2000 — is a tradeoff for Russia's success in blocking U.S. and EU plans to grant statehood for Kosovo through the U.N. Security Council, analysts say. Serbia's ultranationalist leader Tomislav Nikolic, who heads the country's largest political party which is expected to come to power in future elections, has expressed his wish for Serbia to become "a Russian province rather than an EU member." He has urged the government to revive a long-defunct Milosevic initiative for Serbia to formally join the Russia-Belarus union. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who is increasingly siding with the extreme nationalists, has said that Belgrade "will know how to thank" Moscow for its support over Kosovo. He said Serbia would not join NATO if Kosovo should gain independence. He also has bitterly criticized Washington and NATO for their support of an independent Kosovo. Dragan Jocic, Serbia's interior minister and a member of Kostunica's conservative party, said the pro-Russian shift "is logical, because Russia has prevented the partition of Serbia's territory in the Security Council." Although it formally remains part of Serbia, the ethnic Albanian-dominated province has been run by NATO and the United Nations since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended a Serb military crackdown against separatist rebels. The nationalist strategy, which would turn Serbia into the only close Russian ally in Central Europe, has so far been blocked by two pro-Western parties in Kostunica's governing coalition, which has seriously been shaken over the issue. A political shift by Belgrade would allow Russia to make significant gains in controlling the Balkan energy networks, which Russia sees as a crucial corridor to providing natural gas and oil to Western Europe. It could provide a boost for Russian investors, who currently rank only 18th among foreign investors in Serbia — far behind EU and U.S. buyers, according to government figures. It would also please the Kremlin which has been irritated by NATO's eastward expansion in recent years. For Zoran Ostojic, a member of Serbia's opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Russia's ultimate goal would be "to gain a banana republic in the heart of NATO in order to rock that boat." Although Serbia has always maintained close ties with its Orthodox Slavic ally, the two nations were never in any formal political or military alliance, with Serbia in the end always aligning with the West. Russia's ambassador to Belgrade, Aleksander Alexeyev, has described current Russia-Serbia relations as "the best" since World War II, and added that Moscow "would not oppose Serbia's EU membership, if it wished to take that path." Kostunica's government appears to favor Russia's firms in the planned sale of some of the Balkan state's biggest assets, but he has dismissed allegations that the favored status is directly linked to Moscow's diplomatic support over Kosovo. Russia's OAO Lukoil is in pole position in the privatization of Serbia's state oil company, NIS; Aeroflot is considered a "strategic" buyer for the national airline, JAT Airways, and Russian metals tycoon Oleg Deripeska — after holding a highly publicized meeting with Kostunica — is said to be the main bidder in a reopened tender for the country's largest copper mine, RTB Bor. _____ _____ _____ <http://www.iht.com/> International Herald TribuneCopyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com http://statse.webtrendslive.com/dcsvgnood10000w0atsza69tn_3m9q/njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript&WT.js=No&WT.tv=1.0.7 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
