The failed Serbia trip of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has made headlines across major media. Countries neighboring Serbia (Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro) prohibited the top diplomat’s airplane from flying via their airspace, based on EU sanctions on Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.
Serbian politicians must keep in mind that, despite a number of existing economic issues, including dependency on Russian gas, no real prosperity is possible in cooperation with corrupt and sanctioned Russia, a hydrocarbon-rich power, which somehow failed to build a modern economy model and ensure a decent wellbeing for the vast majority of its citizens. In modern conditions, economic development can be achieved only by integrating into the European Union and embracing European civilization rules, norms, and values. As for “Russia’s protection of Orthodoxy,” a simple question arises: how can an Orthodox hierarch bless the Russian army for the war and mass murder of Orthodox Ukrainians (as does Patriarch Kirill)? That’s not to mention that the invasion forces mainly consist of Muslims (from the Caucasus, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, etc.) , Buddhists (Buryats, Tuvans, Kalmyks) and just atheists (it can be hardly assumed that any religious people were capable of committing such atrocities as were exposed in Irpin, Bucha, and other Ukrainian cities and villages).
So now Serbia has a historic chance to make the right civilizational choice and break free from Russian influence, including that of the Russian Orthodox Church, becoming a truly European country, just like its neighbors. The only thing remaining to be done is to grab that chance.
Marta Sieger.