WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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SOURCE:ANTENA M- AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
For Antena M, Oleksandr Levchenko writes:
The Balkans have historically been called "Pandora's Box" and "the powder keg of Europe". The complex relationship between the peoples who lived here led to numerous social, religious, ethnic and political conflicts. Unions formed and disintegrated, countries gained and lost independence. For a long time, the Balkans were a "zone of vital interests", as Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov described it during the reign of Alexander II, not only for Russia, but also for all the great powers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Russian Empire sought to increase its influence in the Balkans from the end of the 18th century. Such an interest was explained, on the one hand, by the desire to establish control over Constantinople, which was a key communications hub of the time, and over the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, which would provide access to the Mediterranean, and on the other hand, by the desire to confirm the status of the protector of the Slavic Christian peoples. Russia's main opponents in the struggle for influence in the region were Great Britain, which wanted to ensure the security of its empire in Asia, and Austria-Hungary, which considered the Balkans its backyard.
Therefore, when he was appointed Russian ambassador to Constantinople, diplomat Ivan Zinoviev was instructed to develop friendly relations with Turkey and ensure that none of the great powers would strengthen its influence in the region to the detriment of the others. The main direction of Russian policy in the Balkans at the end of the 19th century was to "freeze" the conflict in order to avoid the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and, in that case, the inevitable new large-scale international war.
It should be noted that every Russian ruler of the 19th and early 20th centuries declared that Russia was “liberating” some peoples, “helping” others, and “enlightening” others. One of the most striking examples of this is the Balkans, which Russian troops “liberated” from Turkish rule during the Russo-Turkish War of 1875–78. At the same time, it must be understood that the main mobilization measures for this war were carried out on the territory of Ukraine, which was geographically closest to the Balkans.
The Russian plan was a large-scale military, political, and cultural expansion in the Balkans in order to finally turn the countries of this region into their shield and, solely by their own efforts, secure strategic advantages over Turkey and the Western countries. The Russians openly argued about the inferiority of their protected peoples as separate ethnic communities, thereby justifying their aggressive intentions. They established Russian systems of military administration in the conquered territories, contrary to all existing interstate treaties. Thus, a fairly clear ideological scheme of Russian expansionism in the region was formed.
Even today, Moscow actively opposes its approaches to Western politics, but does not offer any alternative ways of reconciliation and coexistence of the Balkan peoples. The Kremlin's policy in the Western Balkans is aimed at polarizing societies and increasing the level of conflict. To strengthen its influence in the region, Moscow uses Pan-Slavism, Orthodoxy, and the allegedly historical "special relationship" between Russia and the Slavic peoples of the Balkans. The Kremlin's anti-Western propaganda is based on the myth of the West's alleged "hatred" of the Orthodox Slavic peoples of the Balkans. Moscow widely disseminates its own theses that Russians and Orthodox South Slavs, especially Serbs, Montenegrins, and Macedonians, have a special relationship and that only Russia cares about their interests, while the West supposedly sides only with Albanians, Bosniaks, and Croats. The Kremlin often proclaims Russians as the elder brothers of the Slavic peoples, while historically Russians probably have the least Slavic blood. The first Slavs arrived in the territory of modern European Russia from the territory of modern eastern and northern Poland only in the mid-8th century, while Slavic tribes arrived in the Balkans from the territory of modern Ukraine as early as the 6th century. The tools and means of Russian policy in the Western Balkans region include several components, such as pro-Russian propaganda and anti-Western rhetoric, bribing influential local public figures, organizing and preparing provocations, including assassination attempts on politicians, and even coups.
Russia shows a strong interest in the Western Balkans, trying to maintain its ability to influence political processes in the region. At the same time, Russia wants to present itself as the protector of the peoples of the region. Unable to compete economically and institutionally with the West, Moscow chooses a strategy of political destabilization. Russia's interest in the region is due to the fact that it could become a flashpoint that could easily be destabilized to achieve its goals. Moscow wants to distract the attention of the Western world from its aggressive war in Ukraine. To disperse the actions of NATO and the EU in terms of security.
The Kremlin is building its policy in such a way as to force Western countries to constantly avoid tensions in the region, hinting at the need to coordinate positions with Moscow and a willingness to make concessions on the Ukrainian issue. Another reason for the Kremlin's interest in destabilizing the situation in the Western Balkans is the presence of NATO in the region. Moscow is very irritated that Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia have joined the Alliance. Putin is challenging Brussels in many countries where this is possible. He wants to show that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is only a declaration, and not a guarantee of security for the member states. Therefore, during Putin's rule, Russia is constantly trying to test the strength of Atlantic solidarity, and the Western Balkans have become a battlefield where the Kremlin carries out various kinds of provocations against NATO.
It must be understood that the Western Balkans, in terms of the use of Russian instruments of influence and intervention, are no different from the countries of the former Soviet Union, since they are part of an aggressive Moscow scenario of creating a Greater Russia, which should expand territorially, with political influence over many other regions. Moscow widely uses fake accounts on social networks to conduct psychological and political influence operations. In the region, Moscow is trying to broadcast propaganda through Russian media, especially Sputnik and RT, which are used to conduct such operations.
Another area of influence for Russian propaganda has become Telegram, which plays a very important role. The number of Telegram channels controlled by Russian special services is constantly growing. Russian influence operations are also carried out using religious factors. Whenever nationalist protests occur, they use church ideology to supposedly defend against Western values that are supposedly in decline, emphasizing the need for spiritual, moral and family protection.
Russia is also trying to use the youth of the Western Balkan countries in its operations, convincing them that Moscow is their friend. Through institutions such as the "Russian House", Russians organize concerts, distribute songs that promote national exclusivity and try to demonstrate their cultural superiority. Russian propaganda experts understand this well and in their special influence operations combine individual elements into a single whole. Russian intelligence services widely use culture, music, art, literature and history as weapons. And they have been working in this direction systematically for decades. An example of this is Ukraine. Kremlin propaganda has long been saying, since the Soviet period, that the Ukrainian people are spiritually and politically closest to the Russian people. But it was only when Kiev began to pursue a policy of real rapprochement with the European Union and NATO that the Kremlin began to call Ukrainians Nazis and call for their subjugation and partial destruction. The suffering that Ukrainians are currently enduring because of Russian aggression is comparable to the crimes committed against them by the Hitlerite occupiers and their accomplices in World War II. Then the Ukrainian people managed to resist the aggression of the Third Reich, losing 10 million people, the most among all European nations, and now they are struggling in difficult conditions with the armed attack of Moscow, which proclaims itself the Third Rome. The free nations of Europe must unite to stop Russian expansion and the ideology of Russian fascism, which is politically defined as Russism. The Third Rome will suffer the same fate as the Third Reich. And the Slavic peoples of the Western Balkans should remember that Russia was never a good mother to them, but an evil stepmother.
