Former head of the Serbian Ministry of Defense: REGNUM IA prevents Belgrade from negotiating with Pristina

Serbian oppositionists, through articles published on the portal of the Russian news agency REGNUM, send negative signals to everyone who believes that the time has come to settle relations between Belgrade and Pristina in the long term. This opinion was expressed on June 26 on the pages of the Serbian NIN magazine by former Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Shutanovac in the author's article Soft Power and Iron Arms. According to Shutanovac, influential states, including Russia, use Serbia as a bargaining chip. The former head of the defense department of Serbia believes that the recent visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Belgrade was planned in such a way as to influence the progress of negotiations with Pristina. According to him, Russia's position on the Kosovo settlement has evolved from the fact that Moscow will accept any agreement reached by the Serbian authorities and Kosovo separatists among themselves, to the fact that there can be no agreement unless Russia approves it on the basis of its interests. President Putin, as the supreme judge, will decide whether the agreement meets Russian interests or not, writes Dragan Shutanovac. Shutanovac further explains what methods Russia uses in the Balkans to achieve its goals. One of them, he considers soft power, the personification of which is the organization Rossotrudnichestvo. Moreover, Vladimir Putin recently appointed ambiguous journalist Yevgeny Primakov to the post of its head, the ex-minister recalled. In his opinion, the President of the Russian Federation made this personnel decision in order to increase pressure on the Serbian authorities. This is logical, since between Primakov and Vucic there is not the best history of relations, Shutanovac believes. Although Rossotrudnichestvo is officially promoting Russia's positive image in the world, popularizing the Russian language and organizing the delivery of humanitarian aid, there are opinions that it is included in the financing of demonstrations against the authorities of those countries where Russia wants to increase its influence. The signal is more than obvious, and only one who does not follow the global and regional agenda will not understand it. Less advanced is enough to read articles by representatives of the Serbian opposition published by the Russian news agency REGNUM, which contain signals to all representatives of the authorities and civil society who think that the time has come to settle relations between Belgrade and Pristina over the long term, writes Dragan Schutanovac. Recall that Shutanovac from 2008 to 2012 served as Minister of Defense of Serbia. Due to the reform of the Serbian army by NATO standards, he was popularly assigned the nickname ShuNATO.