Andriy Kulykov: Please, tell us, why we pay so much attention to Serbia? The country is far enough, it is not so important on a European scale, by the way, it is not a member of the European Union, on which Ukraine focuses. Why is such interest in Serbian Affairs?

Vitalii Martyniuk: Ukraine generally pays a lot of attention to all European countries, especially where elections are held, and where changes in the political establishment and its bias towards Russia are possible. Why? Because the Russian Federation has also been active for a long time in Europe and on the Balkan Peninsula in particular, and Serbia is considered a key partner of Russia in the Peninsula. I would even say it is such a bridgehead for the spread of Russian influence, because after the accession of Montenegro to NATO - there is only the ratification of the accession Agreement by Spain left - Serbia will be actually surrounded by countries which are members of the Alliance, and the majority of its neighbors - the countries of the Western Balkans - are the European Union members. The Western Balkans have always been under the watchful eye of Europe, because the Balkans were, now here is the analogy that the Balkans are some sort of potential threat. This is, of course, due to the fact that in the early 90-ies there were very brutal Balkan wars, violent clashes, which were accompanied by thousands of victims, including civilians, which were followed by hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons, so the region is unstable in the whole.

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