Russia and Serbia in the Contemporary World: Elenabilateral Georgievna Relations, Ponomareva Challenges and Opportunities Bogdan Stojanović, Ph.D
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Russia and seRbia in the ContempoRaRy WoRld: Elenabilateral Georgievna relations, Ponomareva challenges and opportunities bogdan stojanović, ph.d. , ph.d. (eds) belgrade, 2020 Russia and seRbia in the ContempoRaRy WoRld: bilateral relations, challenges and opportunities https://doi.org/10.18485/iipe_ru_sr.2020 Publisher For the Publisher institute of international politics and economics, belgrade Editors in Chief professor branislav Đorđević, director of the institute of international politics and economics Language editor bogdan stojanović, ph.d., elena Georgievna ponomareva, ph.d. Layout maja nikolić Cover design sanja balović Printed by snežana Vojković ns mala Knjiga+, novi sad isbn 978-86-7067-278-9 this publication was financially supported by nis a.d. novi sad. Reviewing Board prof. dr. elena brodovskaya, Financial university under the Government of the Russian Federation, moscow (Russia) prof. dr. Konstantin lobanov, belgorod law institute of the ministry of internal affairs of Russia, belgorod (Russia) prof. dr. siniša atlagić, Faculty of political sciences, university of belgrade, belgrade (serbia) prof. dr. Valeriu Gheorghe mosneaga, head of the Chair of political science, state university of moldova, Chisinau (moldova) prof. dr. daria makovskaya, sevastopol state university, Center for international political studies of the Greater mediterranean, sevatsopol (Russia) prof. dr. Rastislav Kazansky, Faculty of political sciences and international Relations matej bel, university banska bystrica, banska bystrica (slovakia) prof. dr. marko babić, Faculty of political science and international studies, university of Warsaw, Warsaw (poland) CONTENT The Kosovo knot: Is a fair solution possible sergej lavrov Bilateraland ivica dačić and multilateral framework for cooperation 15 Balkan vector of Russian foreign (public) policy: The example of Serbia miroslav mladenović and elena Georgievna ponomareva Eurasian economic integration and the possibility of increasing Serbia’s exports to Russia 21 nataša stanojević Political, economic and cultural cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and the Western Balkans 39 through the lens of relations with Serbia asia pentegova The impact of the issue of Kosovo and Metohija on Serbian – Albanian relations 57 yuliya bulannikova Russia and Serbia cooperation in the sector of oil and gas – past, present and possible future 67 petar stanojević and Zoran Jeftić Russia and the Serbs (Serbia), from eastern question to contemporary relations 77 dragan petrović 7 98 Images and Perceptions Russian information presence at the Balkans: Challenges and prospects evgeny n. pashentsev Information and communication expansion in the Balkans as an implement of geopolitical influence 117 ivan V. surma Framing Russo-Serbian cooperation as a “hybrid threat”: A NATO/EU strategic narrative 133 aleksandar mitić Dynamic regional political concepts and the European integration process 149 miloš petrović Eurasia: Security, integrations and geopolitics 167 New Serbian integration challenge: Russian and/or Chinese Eurasianism milomir stepić Military and Political Security Problems. Common Threats and Challenges in the OSCE Region 187 andrey y. malov Russia, the EU, and China: Foreign policy initiatives in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE) 201 olga shishkina American geopolitics in contemporary Eurasia: What must be done and can global leadership be preserved? 231 dušan proroković 245 8 FOREWORD today, the Russian-serbian strategic partnership is on the rise, with a trust- based high-level political dialogue performing an essential role. Friendly relations between our countries are rooted in the spiritual and civilizational kinship between our peoples, as well as in our centuries-long shared history, including the heroic struggle during World War ii that led to our common Victory over nazism. Cherishing these precious traditions, moscow and belgrade are genuinely committed to fostering close bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, security, humanitarian and cultural areas, to the benefit of both nations and in the interests of strengthening peace and stability in the balkans and beyond. it is gratifying to note that academic communities in Russia and serbia recognize the significance of their analytical engagement for further comprehensive development of fruitful inter-state collaboration. Welcoming this new publication of the belgrade institute of international politics and economics, i hope that it will not only facilitate a constructive and insightful discussion between the researchers in Russia and serbia, but also kindle lively scholarly interest worldwide and, therefore, pave the way for a deeper exploration of the matters concerned. i would like to extend sincere appreciation to everyone who invested their efforts in the project and wish them every success in their future creative endeavors. ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of serbia alexander botsan-Kharchenko 9 INTRODUCTION Relations between Russia and serbia viewed through the prism of the size of the territory and the economic, political, and military power, do not provide adequate insight into the depth of the connection between the two countries and peoples. Russia, as the largest country in the world, the largest exporter of gas, the second-largest exporter and the third-largest oil producer, historically a great power and nuclear superpower, plays a more significant role in the modern world compared to relatively small serbia. the historical influence that Russia had in the balkans and the allied relationship with serbia left a deep mark on the modern relations between the two countries, but also on Russian foreign policy, in which the “balkan vector” currently represents a significant segment. the processes of developing multipolarity in international relations take place in the economic and political spheres, while in the military field, multipolarity has never ceased to exist. in these processes, Russia has a leading role as a state whose foreign policy matrix includes the strengthening of international law, the abolition of arbitrariness, and the creation of alternative security and economic arrangements at the planetary level. Russia’s power has undoubtedly grown and spilled over beyond the sphere of the former territory of the soviet union, which is best evidenced by the activities in syria. serbia, as a declaratively neutral state and one of the few european countries outside nato, burdened by the problem posed by the self-proclaimed independence of one part of its territory, represents an arena of conflict of different worldviews in modern international relations. the key challenges relate to the relatively frequently asked questions of nato and the european union enlargement, views on Kosovo’s self-proclaimed independence, but also some new ones such as Chinese influence in the balkans, 5G technology, sanctioning Russia for incorporating Crimea, and many others. 11 the above-stated reasons indicate the need for a more profound analysis of Russian-serbian relations, Russia’s influence in the balkans, eurasian integration, and geopolitical tendencies viewed from different angles. primarily from the perspective of a great power that projects its strength on a global level, and then from the perception of serbia, a small european country that has no global pretensions, but its primary goals are the preservation of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and economic prosperity. the collection of papers “Russia and serbia in Contemporary World: bilateral relations, challenges and opportunities”, which was created as yet another indicator in a series of fruitful cooperation between the institute of international politics and economics and the embassy of the Russian Federation in serbia, is an expression of the need for deeper research. it is divided into three chapters in which the authors analyse different parts of the mosaic. the first and most extensive chapter deals with bilateral and multilateral frameworks of cooperation. Russian and serbian foreign ministers, sergei lavrov and ivica dacic open a discussion on one of the most significant regional issues, but also the axis of cooperation in finding a solution to the problem of Kosovo and metohija. miroslav mladenovic and elena ponomareva analyse the balkan vector of Russian foreign policy in the context of serbia. natasa stanojevic discusses the potentials of serbian exports to Russia and the impact on the course of eurasian economic integration. asya pentegova analyses political, economic, and cultural cooperation between belarus and the Western balkans from the angle of relations with serbia. in her work, yulia bulannikova deals with the impact of the problems of Kosovo and metohija on serbian-albanian relations in general. petar stanojevic and Zoran Jeftic address an important topic of cooperation between Russia and serbia in the oil and gas sector. the paper of dragan petrovic, who has been researching the relations between Russia and serbia since the time of the so-called “eastern Question” to this day, is the last in the chapter. the second chapter entitled “images and perceptions”, analyses the nonmaterial elements of the Russian-serbian relations and the strength of intangible factors in the balkans. the chapter begins with the paper of evgeny pashentsev, who researches the Russian information presence in the balkans. in his paper, ivan surma explains the expansion of that presence, while aleksandar mitic analyses the image of Russia in