SRBIJA I RUSIJA U PARLAMENTARNOJ SKUPŠTINI SAVETA EVROPE NA KRAJU 20. VEKA
SERBIA AND RUSSIA IN THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AT THE END OF THE 20th CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The paper reviews relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR/Russia on one hand, and the Council of Europe (CoE) on the other. During the Cold War, the ties with the CoE were quite different for Yugoslavia and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Yugoslavia wanted to develop the relationship, even though it was not a foreign policy priority for the state. On the other hand, as the reason to create the Council was precisely to respond to the spread of „people’s democracies“ behind the Iron Curtain, cooperation with the USSR was quite an unlikely prospect. The changes introduced by perestroika brought Moscow and the CoE closer, but they also accelerated the disintegration of the USSR. Neither Yugoslavia nor the USSR ever joined the CoE; it was their successor states that did. During the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) largely supported the aggression, opposition by a considerable number of PACE members notwithstanding. In line with Kremlin’s official policy towards Serbia and the prevailing public sentiment at home, the most fervent opposition came from members of the Russian Duma.

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