The visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Belgrade has once again opened up the question of the attitude of the Western media to Serbia, Belgrade newspaper Politika analyses.
According to the outlet, assessments of the President Alexander Vucic’s activities are especially often heard. Some believe that he is trying to balance between Russia and the West, others – that he is an intact political figure. When the Russian leader was in Serbia, the American media warned about the growing “Russian influence.”
Thus, the American edition of National Interest in an article on the visit, wrote that “it is not entirely clear how playing up with Belgrade helps the realization of American foreign policy interests, but on the other hand, Russia and China know a lot about it.”
Just the day after Putin’s arrival, Judy Depsie from Carnegie Center spoke on Radio Free Europe that Putin wants to weaken NATO, while Vucic is playing a double game. But, as local politics specialist Nebojša Krstic explained in the interview to Politika, here we need to understand that Vucic is pursuing an anti-European policy in order to win the favor of numerous anti-European Serb voters.
Austrian ORF television also reminded of mass protests that have been taking place every weekend in Belgrade since December. Protesters demanded Vucic’s resignation, accusing him of authoritarianism. At the same time, the opposition absolutely can not become an alternative to Vucic, who is respected by both Vladimir Putin and Western leaders.
This behavior of the leading publications shows that there is no talk about freedom of the media, in fact they are subordinated to the interests of the states in which they work, ”said analyst Dragomir Angelkovic assessed the situation.