The latest statement by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), claiming that the European Union is behind the \u201cunrest in Serbia\u201d and that the anniversary of the collapse of the canopy on November 1 will be used to complete a \u201cSerbian Maidan,\u201d might have sounded serious to someone, if it weren\u2019t for the dramatic events that unfolded in Russia itself around the same time it was published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Namely, hundreds of Ukrainian drones carried out a landing and blew up facilities in Russia\u2019s second-largest refinery, while the aforementioned service, otherwise tasked with defending Russia from external enemies, failed to predict or prevent it, obviously due to a lack of timely and accurate information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That very same service, surprise surprise, a month and a half earlier already knew for sure that a \u201cnew Maidan\u201d would take place in Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does that mean that Russian spies are better informed about what is being prepared in Belgrade than about the plans being forged in Kyiv?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I seriously doubt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Russian bow for Serbian ears<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is far more likely that the authorities in Belgrade ordered and, through intermediaries\u2014most likely one of Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s advisers close to Russian intelligence circles\u2014paid dearly for the statement, which has little to do with reason or reality. Then the Russian security officers and their editors tailored it to satisfy the motives of the commissioner, repeating the hollow story of the \u201ccolor revolution,\u201d but this time wrapped with a Russian bow, mentioning the Ukrainian Maidan as a domestic synonym for a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat financed by the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus formulated, the statement was initially supposed to create the illusion that Russians and their intelligence agents are truly seriously dealing with Serbia, even though they are not, while the Russian service took the opportunity to send a message to two other addresses, certainly more important to them than Belgrade, Vu\u010di\u0107, and the Serbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first is the domestic public (hence the mention of Maidan), since Putin uses every opportunity to serve the war-weary Russian people the story that every revolution in the former communist states is financed by the West. That was the case in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Chechnya (until they managed to establish control through Kadyrov Sr.), and so Serbia perfectly fit into that narrative, like music to the ears of the average United Russia voter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second address is the collective West, to which Moscow sends the message that it still pulls some strings in Belgrade, while at the same time once again placing Vu\u010di\u0107 in an awkward position of having to explain to his Western mentors that he is not a Russian player and \u201cPutin\u2019s little deckhand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A win-win combination<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the Russian authorities, therefore, this statement was a win-win combination. Middlemen, intermediaries, and corrupt officials who executed it filled their pockets, and the story was constructed in a way that directed the flow toward the Kremlin\u2019s mill. Putin the wolf full, and all the dogs accounted for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Incidentally, the seriousness of the statement is best illustrated by the fact that two Kremlin media Cerberuses, Peskov and Zakharova, did not even comment on it. Not a word. And why would they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vladimir Vladimirovich is, of course, aware that the SVR, as well as some other Russian civil and military services, is a hotbed of corruption and racketeering, but due to the war circumstances he clearly has no time to deal with those, at this moment, peripheral problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In such an environment, paper endures everything, statements are sold complete with a seal, and for the right sum you can even get a medal or arrange an official visit to Moscow, if you happen to need it to boost your rating in your home country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But those are Russian themes and dilemmas. Let us turn to what concerns and troubles us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does Putin love Vu\u010di\u0107 more than Porfirije?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Serbian public and people rightly wonder, ever since that scandalous address by Porfirije on the Kremlin couch: Does Putin and the Russian government really support and love Vu\u010di\u0107 as much as the Serbian patriarch does? And do they really think that students are prominent figures and mercenaries of Brussels, Berlin, and London centers of power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer is: NO!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Russian security services, which with the installation of that pseudo-firefighting center in Ni\u0161 also received their official headquarters in Serbia, have more than enough resources, agents, and informants to create a clear picture of what is happening. After all, you don\u2019t need any serious spy work for that\u2014just follow the media for a few days and it will be clear to anyone, even the dumbest agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the Russians know very well that student protests are not organized by Western services (although they would dearly love them to be), they know that Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s government is corrupt, arrogant, and largely instrumentalized by Western governments and intelligence circles, and I believe they can clearly assess that the days of such a government are numbered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So why then do they blow wind into the sails of Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s regime with meaningless statements like this last one, or the recent statement by the Russian ambassador in Belgrade?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from the fact that in both cases it is paid advertising, the fact that the Kremlin allows such excursions to its services and officials reveals only that, at this moment, it simply suits them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n