The situation in Serbia is calm, the authorities are monitoring it, the Russian Embassy in Belgrade told Izvestia. On March 15, a protest rally was held in the city, which was attended, according to various sources, from 100,000 to 300,000 people. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that a new government should be formed by April 18. Experts do not rule out that representatives of the opposition may enter the Cabinet of Ministers to reduce tension in society. According to experts, they are trying to use the discontent of patriotic citizens to destabilize the political order in the country.
Protests in Serbia are the main thing
As of the middle of the day on March 17, the situation in Serbia is calm and under the control of the authorities, the press service of the Russian Embassy in Belgrade told Izvestia.
"During the large—scale rally that took place in Belgrade on March 15, the country's leadership and relevant services prevented outbreaks of violence that could lead to a civil confrontation," they said.
The diplomatic Mission recommends that Russian citizens refrain from visiting crowded places due to the possible continuation of protests.
"We remind you of the need for strict compliance with Serbian legislation," the Russian Embassy in Belgrade added.
A large rally was held in the Serbian capital on March 15. According to the country's Interior Ministry, about 107 thousand people took part in the action, non-governmental organizations numbered up to 325,000, and the opposition even claimed a million participants. The reason was the tragedy that happened in November 2024. At that time, a 50-meter canopy made of concrete, metal and glass collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station. As a result, 15 people died, including three children. All of them are Serbian citizens, except for one— a citizen of North Macedonia. After that, protests began demanding that officials responsible for the safety of the facilities be punished.
Last Saturday, there were clashes: a motorist in a BMW flew into a crowd and knocked down three people, and he resisted arrest. Demonstrators in the center of Belgrade have repeatedly attacked police officers, the press service of the republic's Interior Ministry said. The network is spreading the claim that the authorities used a "sound cannon" to disperse, but the Serbian Interior Ministry called this version a "vile lie." Prime Minister Milos Vucevic noted that Belgrade is ready to invite the special services of the Russian Federation and the United States to investigate the incident. President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed this possibility.
In total, 56 people were hospitalized as a result of the riots, and 22 more were detained, the head of the republic said in his address to the nation.
At the same time, the protest potential after this rally has not been exhausted. The level of dissatisfaction with the authorities in society is critically high, even though officials have shown willingness to engage in dialogue, INF program manager Milan Lazovich noted in an interview with Izvestia.
"In the near future, we may witness a possible new wave of these protests, but we cannot yet talk about a complete decline," the expert said.
Aleksandar Vucic has stated that he does not intend to resign. At the same time, the government of Milos Vucevic will finally terminate its powers, and parliament will approve this decision in the near future. After that, Serbian politicians will have almost a month to form a new cabinet of ministers. If it is not possible to assemble a new government by April 18, the country will hold early parliamentary elections on June 8, the Serbian president said.
The outgoing government relies on the support of the Serbian Progressive Party, the Socialist Party, the Movement of Socialists, the Party of United Pensioners, Farmers and Proletarians, as well as several other small political forces. There is a high probability that the next government will be a coalition one, since the opposition will certainly require the inclusion of its representatives in the cabinet, Lazovich noted.
— First of all, we are talking about the Serbia Against Violence movement, which showed a very good result in the last parliamentary elections (24.3% of the vote. — Ed.), — said the expert.
If the authorities decide to hold early parliamentary elections, they will help reduce the degree of tension in society, Lazovich concluded. It is worth noting that Vucic has successfully applied this strategy in the past: in December 2023, early parliamentary elections were held in the country, the purpose of which was to demonstrate to the opposition that the government is legitimate and enjoys broad support in society. The ruling coalition then won a majority.
Who is interested in destabilizing Serbia
This is far from the first protest wave for Serbia. Due to the mass riots, dubbed the "Bulldozer Revolution," President Slobodan Milosevic was forced to resign in 2000. No less serious actions took place in Serbia after the shooting at a school in Belgrade in 2023, when ten people were killed. In the summer of 2024, Serbian environmental activists and the opposition opposed the mining of lithium in the Jadar River Valley by Rio Tinto. No election campaign in the country is complete without protests.
After the tragedy at the railway station in 2024, Serbian students and the opposition began actions in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac and other cities. At the same time, the scale of the performances is growing, as are the demands of their participants. In addition to the rallies, there are strikes by students and employees. In January, protesters blocked Avtokommando, the largest transport interchange in the Serbian capital. It is important that the actions take place not only in Belgrade, but also in other cities of the country.
At the same time, the main core of the protesters are not pro-European supporters, but so-called patriotic forces that view their demands through the prism of national sovereignty and strengthening relations with Russia. We are talking about exploiting the discontent with the Serbian government, which has been accumulating since 2014, MGIMO Professor Elena Ponomareva told Izvestia.
— On formally correct, beautiful slogans, there is actually an attempt to commit a coup d'etat. No matter how much we disagree with the demands of the protesters, the degree of organization makes us think of a well—planned action," the expert noted.
Right now, the management of rallies is mostly hidden, but in the process, the direct leaders will show themselves. In particular, there remains the question of how much money the protesting students' website is being used, Ponomareva stressed.
Alexander Vucic, against the background of the events in Belgrade on Saturday, said that the country would not be able to hold a color revolution modeled on the Maidan in Kiev in 2014. Back in January, during another escalation of the situation, Vucic stressed that Western foreign agents were attracting students and other participants to the protests, "billions of euros were invested in this." In January, the Serbian president announced the creation of the "Movement for the People and the State" at a rally in the city of Jagodina to combat the attempt of foreign interference in the country's affairs. Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and leader of the pro-government "Movement of Socialists" Alexander Vulin earlier told Izvestia that his party intends to achieve the adoption of a law on foreign agents.
The United States reacted calmly to the protests that took place on March 15. Four days earlier, Aleksandar Vucic held talks in Belgrade with the son of US President Donald Trump Jr., who had already visited Serbia in September 2024. By the way, in May last year, the Serbian government approved a contract with American businessman Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump's husband, to build a hotel.
The EU has not yet officially responded to Saturday's protests. However, in recent years, Brussels has been putting pressure on Belgrade to force it to abandon close relations with Russia. In particular, back in 2022, the EC published an annual report in which it called on Serbia to "firmly adhere to the strategic course of the European Union and follow the path of reform."
The EU is exerting no less pressure on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In February, the BiH court sentenced Milorad Dodik to a year in prison and a ban on holding public office. In March, the Prosecutor's office of Bosnia and Herzegovina demanded that the politician be detained. President Vucic called Dodik's sentence an attack on the entire Serbian people.
The Serbian authorities were able to prevent the escalation and the country's descent into an acute crisis, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botan-Kharchenko said earlier. In his opinion, the refusal to impose sanctions against Russia is one of the reasons why Europe is secretly undermining and rocking stability in the Balkan republic.
Serbia is one of Russia's most important partners in Europe. In addition to the historical and cultural reasons for the closeness of the two peoples, there is also a practical explanation. Belgrade has not joined the sanctions against Moscow, but instead continues to develop cooperation. In particular, the parties are discussing the conclusion of a new gas contract. Therefore, maintaining political stability in Serbia is in Russia's interests.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
