A FORGOTTEN FRIENDSHIP: SERBO-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS AND PRO-RUSSIAN NARRATIVES
A FORGOTTEN FRIENDSHIP: SERBO-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS AND PRO-RUSSIAN NARRATIVES

Author(s): Kateryna Shymkevych
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, International relations/trade
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Summary/Abstract: The bilateral relations between Serbia and Ukraine were established in April 1994 and were developing over a long period of time, covering the fields of trade, economy, investments, finance, cultural, humanitarian and scientific and technical cooperation. However, the relations between the two countries got significantly complicated with the beginning of the Russian aggression on Ukraine in 2014. As a long-standing partner of the Russian Federation, Serbia condemned the annexation of Crimea and supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity. However, Belgrade refused to call the Russian aggression a war. Since 2014 to date, the main designations in the Serbian media landscape have been “conflict” and “crisis”. In 2022, a new term appeared -“special military operation”. When regards the war information, Serbian media often transmit pro-Russian narratives, thus disseminating disinformation about the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine, even despite the fact that Ukraine has not recognised the independence of Kosovo, and, unlike the Russian Federation, does not have a representative office in Kosovo. The relations between Kyiv and Belgrade got complicated due to the participation of Serbian volunteers on the side of Lugansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic separatists, as well as part of the “Wagner” PMC. Instead of condemning the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Serbian society and leadership have taken a neutral position, which brought about problems in the relations with Ukraine. At the same time, Kyiv has a clear and balanced position vis-à-vis Kosovo and Serbia’s territorial integrity. It is important to mention that the Russian propaganda has a strong bearing on the Serbo-Ukrainian relations. In the past ten years, the Kremlin has been spreading lies about the Euromaidan, Revolution of Dignity, Crimea’s occupation, Ukraine’s internal problems, the war, etc. It is only within the last year that the Serbian information space has seen articles attempting to deconstruct the Russian lies about Ukraine, Crimea, linguistic issues, history. Unfortunately, the majority attitude of the Serbian society towards the Russian-Ukrainian war has not changed, so the support to Vladimir Putin and Russia remains rather strong.

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