Moscow's favorite, Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić won already in the first round of the presidential elections, but that does not mean that Belgrade's policy with the new president will be pro-Russian, assesses the Moscow daily Komersant in today's article.
The paper assesses that the Kremlin's support really helped Vučić win in the first round and avoid the second. "But by providing a favor, Moscow is obviously counting on the new president to reciprocate," the daily assesses.
Russia was building similar plans a year ago in relation to Vučić's government, after the victory of his party in the parliamentary elections. At the time of his visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he hoped that the new government would be filled by people who pay serious attention to the relations between Russia and Serbia, the newspaper writes, adding that the pro-Russian ministers in the Serbian government did not appear.
"The new president of Serbia will stick to his favorite phrase - "both the West and Russia".
According to the newspaper, in the current elections, the most important thing for Vučić was to win in the first round at any cost.
That is why he could make any promises at the last meeting in the Kremlin, but he will not be able to take into account all the key wishes of Moscow. For that, he would have to sacrifice the foreign policy formula "both the West and Russia", writes Kommersant.
Dnevnik states that Vučić declares Serbia's quick entry into the EU as his main goal, but notes that because of him, he has to harmonize his foreign policy, including sanctions against Russia. "Moscow is unlikely to accept this calmly," the paper adds.
Komersant writes that during Vučić's time, Serbia reached the highest level of cooperation for countries that are not members of the Alliance, and that Moscow "does not hide its nervousness despite this".
Dnevnik states that Belgrade opposes granting diplomatic status to the collaborators of the humanitarian center in Nis due to the attitude of the West, as well as that it has a different position on Ukraine compared to Russia.
The paper also writes that regardless of the official statements of both parties, the new Serbian president has a different view of Balkan affairs: both Montenegro's entry into NATO and the radical steps taken by Republika Srpska.
"Moscow would like Belgrade to more realistically support its views on these issues," says Komersant.
According to the daily, Vučić cannot eliminate the differences that exist in relation to Moscow's position, and that "he hardly wants to".
"In that case, he will have to risk relations with the West, not only the fantasy of joining the EU, but also its financial assistance, which exceeds Russia's. And then, he will have to forget about victories like on April 2," the daily writes.
Komersant concludes that because of this, Vučić will stick to his favorite formula until the end and strive to compensate every step towards Russia with an analogous one towards the West.
"It will continue until they get bored," Komersant concludes.
Bonus video:
