![]() In their eyes, the Russian aggression against Ukraine emboldens Serbian revanchism and endangers the Western-backed territorial status quo across the Western Balkans. The country’s neighbors in the former Yugoslavia fear the wars of the 1990s could come back with a vengeance. ![]() Serbia’s Russian connection raises alarm across the region. “Serbia is well advanced on its EU path,” tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on a visit to Belgrade on October 28, 2022. Yet at the same time, Serbia is winning plaudits in Brussels. The Serbian-Russian connection appears as strong as ever. The city brims with middle-class Russians taking advantage of Serbia’s visa-free regime and lax residence rules to move their businesses closer to the EU and avoid being mobilized and sent to the front in Ukraine. Flights from Moscow and Saint Petersburg land daily at Belgrade airport. On the other, Serbia resists pressure to join Western sanctions against Russia and sever its long-standing ties to the country. On the one hand, Vučić professes a sincere commitment to bringing Serbia into the EU and promoting regional integration through initiatives such as Open Balkan, a platform Serbia shares with Albania and North Macedonia. So far, even Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine has not caused Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to alter course. Five years down the line, Serbian foreign policy is still looking both ways. ![]() ![]() deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, had a stark message to Serbia back in 2017: Belgrade had to make a choice between the West and Russia. “You cannot sit on two chairs at the same time, especially if they are that far apart.” Hoyt Brian Yee, then U.S. This publication is part of Europe’s East, a Carnegie Europe project on European policy toward Eastern Europe and Russia. ![]()
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