BELGRADE (Reuters) – Each week about a dozen Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian expatriates opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine meet native Serbs in a Belgrade cafe to focus on the war and plan protest rallies.
Serbia’s open borders to Russia have made the Balkan nation a vacation spot for 1000’s of Russians, together with some fleeing sanctions or conscription and others opposed to the federal government in Moscow. Thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war additionally arrived.
Peter Nikitin, founder the Facebook group “Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Serbs Together Against War”, says it began spontaneously on the day Russia invaded on Feb 24.
“We went to the Russian embassy to protest and there we met a few different Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians and … the identical day we began this Facebook group,” mentioned Nikitin, 41, a Muscovite and an interpreter who got here to Belgrade six years in the past.
The group has to this point staged round a dozen actions, starting from rallies that attracted lots of of individuals to smaller protests with simply a handful of activists.
In Serbia, they’re within the minority.
Most Serbs see Russia, a fellow Orthodox Christian and Slavic nation, as an necessary navy and commerce companion.
In May analysis from NSPM, a Belgrade-based conservative think-tank, urged that 82.1% of Serbians opposed sanctions in opposition to Russia. It additionally mentioned that 68.7% of respondents believed NATO, which bombed Serbia in the course of the war in Kosovo in 1999, was mainly liable for the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
‘YOU DON’T GET ARRESTED’
Since the invasion, a number of rallies in help of Russia have attracted 1000’s of supporters, together with many from ultranationalist organisations, some waving Russian flags or sporting t-shirts with the pro-Russian “Z” emblem.
The “Z” image has additionally appeared in graffiti on partitions within the Serbian capital, although a mural that includes Russian President Vladimir Putin and the phrase “brother” has since be defaced with purple spray paint.
Although Serbia condemned the invasion of Ukraine on the United Nations, its conservative authorities has to this point refused to impose sanctions in opposition to Russia.
But Nikitin mentioned that regardless of pro-Russian sentiment and threats in social media, the Serbian authorities have allowed the group to exhibit, in contrast to in Russia and its ally Belarus, the place there have been clampdowns on dissent.
“You do not get overwhelmed up and arrested 5 minutes after you present up on the road, in actual fact the police in Belgrade are very skilled … they have been doing a nice job defending us and stopping varied provocations,” he mentioned.
Sasha Seregina, 33, from Russia’s jap metropolis of Samara who administers group’s Facebook web page, mentioned its Ukrainian members have been very supportive, however that the actual reconciliation between the 2 nations can be a tough course of.
“This is essential not just for our motion but in addition for the longer term and for some potential reconciliation.”
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Daria Sito-Sucic and Alex Richardson)
