Russia Encourages Serbs in Kosovo and Bosnia to Secede

The Kremlin has sent two representatives to Serbia to implement what could be Moscow’s next major move against the West over Kosovo’s independence.

The representatives were not lightweights, either. The first was Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the man who chairs Gazprom and is Putin’s—and therefore the inevitable—pick for the next president of Russia. The second man was Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“Serbia is a single state whose jurisdiction is stretching through its entire territory,” said Medvedev during a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. “We will stick to this as our principle in the future.”

In keeping with this Russian principle concerning the Serbian state, Medvedev not only reiterated Moscow’s refusal to recognize Kosovo, he and Lavrov stood right beside the Serbian prime minister as he declared Serbia’s intension to rule the parts of Kosovo where “loyal citizens” still looked to Belgrade for governance (Stratfor, February 25).

The “loyal citizens” that Kostunica referred to are most likely in Kosovo’s provinces of Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potak. These provinces contain a Serbian majority, directly abut Serbian territory and are largely separated from the rest of Kosovo by the Iber River.

Lavrov followed Kostunica’s declaration with a warning to the West: Supporting Kosovo’s Albanians “will only lead to the creation of one more frozen conflict and will push the prospect of stabilizing Europe, and primarily stabilizing the Balkans, far away,” he said.

Russia and Serbia are sending a strong message to the European Union and the United States: If the West supports independence of Kosovo’s Albanians from Serbia, Russia will support the independence of Kosovar Serbs from Kosovo.

Bosnian Secession

Both the EU and nato would be reluctant to see Kosovo split, but all in all the transfer of three small counties from Kosovo back to Serbia would be a relatively small retaliation for the humiliation both Russia and Serbia received when Kosovo declared independence.

Moscow may have another more drastic option up its sleeve.

Since its 1992-1995 war, the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina has been composed of two largely autonomous states: the Serbian-run Republica Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Since February 17, more than 10,000 Bosnian Serbs have taken to the streets of their Bosnian stronghold, Banja Luka, to protest Kosovo’s declaration of independence. Most Bosnian Serbs now feel that they should be allowed to secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina and rejoin their Serbian motherland.

The protesters in Banja Luka cry, “We will not give the Serbian soul to the devil” and, “We want independence for Republika Srpska!”

These protests have far deeper roots than just mob indignation. Srpska Prime Minister Milarad Dodik fully supports the protest, telling the demonstrators, “This is a democratic, human revolt!” The Bosnian Serb parliament has also come out against Kosovo’s independence and has stated that Republika Srpska should secede from Bosnia if a significant part of the United Nations and the EU recognize Kosovo.

EU ambassadors to Bosnia have strongly rejected such rhetoric, saying that these Serbs have no right to secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina under the peace deal that ended Bosnia’s war.

Nevertheless, Dodik made it a point to attend the Monday meeting between Medvedev and the Serbian prime minister.

At that meeting, Medvedev stated that Serbia’s participation in Russia’s planned South Stream gas pipeline to southern Europe was an act of Russian support for Serbia over the Kosovo issue. “It is an element of our support—moral, material and economic—to a state which has found itself in a very difficult position and which—unfortunately, due to the will of some other countries—is being doubted as a single territorial entity,” he said (Interfax, February 26).

Medvedev affirmed that Srpska—not all of Bosnia-Herzegovina, just Srpska—would be included in the Russian buy-up of most of the Serbian energy sector and in the proposed South Stream pipeline.

According to Stratfor, Srpska is a net energy exporter and really has no need for Russian gas. The fact that Dodik traveled all the way to Serbia to meet with Medvedev about a gas deal he does not need, combined with the fact that Dodik has expressed approval over Srpska secessionist riots, has led to speculation Russia may back both the Bosnian and the Kosovo Serbian secessionist movements.

Supporting the reunion of Srpska and the Serb-dominated counties of Kosovo with their Serbian motherland is Russia’s chance to get even with the EU and America over Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

EU’s strategy Against Serbia: Divide and Conquer

Germany has been the driving force behind the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. In late 1991 and early 1992, Germany and the Vatican opposed the U.S., the UN and the European Economic Community and formally recognized the Yugoslavian breakaway states of Slovenia and Croatia. In 2003, Germany contributed more troops to nato’s Bosnian peacekeeping force than any other nation.

After Yugoslavia lost Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia, Germany was still unsatisfied. It was intricately involved in the 1999 nato bombings that gave Kosovo de facto independence. After Kosovo’s declaration of independence on February 17 this year, Germany was one of the first states to recognize Kosovo. Now most of Europe is following Germany’s lead.

“Why encourage separatism with the goal of creating a unified Europe?” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

Germany wants to get the former Yugoslav republics inside the EU. Berlin could, however, have brought Serbia into the Union without recognizing Kosovo’s independence. As a matter of fact, recognizing Kosovo’s independence has only made Serbia’s integration process harder, because many Serbs now fear the EU as a fascist entity trying to act against their interests. Recognizing Kosovo has only driven Serbia toward Russia.

But this is exactly what happened during World War ii. Yugoslavia was divided over whether or not to support the Nazi regime. When the government, under heavy pressure, signed a pact with Hitler’s Germany, the people staged a coup, overthrew the government and set up an anti-fascist state. Hitler then invaded and conquered Yugoslavia. But he did not stop there. Germany ripped the nation into pieces, formed northern Yugoslavia into the Nazi-puppet state of Croatia, annexed Kosovo to Albania and imposed a German military command over Serbia. In short, he conquered Yugoslavia and divided it into so many pieces that he ensured it would no longer pose a threat to his regime.

The similarities to what European leaders are doing today—though far more subtly—are eerie. The EU is avoiding annexing Yugoslavia as one big chunk, preferring instead to once again rip it apart bit by bit and then swallow the chunks one by one. This way, when all the former Yugoslav states are finally part of the EU, none of them will have the power to cause undue trouble for Brussels—or Berlin.

German fascism is again conquering the Balkans. To some extent, Russia knows it. That explains why the Russians are so intent on supporting Serbia. If they can annex Serbian zones of former Yugoslav republics back to Serbia, they can make a run at forestalling Europe’s rise to power.

Sectarian violence will increase in Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo as Russia and Europe compete for influence. But at the end of the day, Europe is already too entrenched in the former Yugoslav republics to lose out. Russia’s effort may pay off in other ways, but the European Union will remain the conqueror of the Balkans.

For more information on Germany’s role in the conquest of the Balkans, please read The Rising Beast—Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.