The most striking allegations against Russia concern a purported coup attempt in Montenegro last October, on the day of the country’s elections. Authorities arrested 20 Serbian suspects. On February 19th the country’s state prosecutor accused Russian “state organs” of having masterminded the plot in order to prevent the country’s imminent accession to NATO. Russia called the claim “absurd”.
Russia also backs Serbia’s refusal to recognise the secession of Kosovo in 2008. Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s president, says he fears Russian influence is growing (along with that of Islamists and nationalists) because the EU is too consumed with its own problems to pay attention to the region.
The centre in Nis, established in 2012, is helping to win friends. Russia had already helped to clear unexploded ordnance left behind by NATO’s bombing during the Kosovo war of 1999. In 2014 Russia used the centre to fly in emergency relief when floods hit the region. Since then Russia has helped put out forest fires, provided tents for migrants and trained emergency responders. Between 2014 and 2017, this aid will total $40m. A recent poll showed that Serbs wrongly believe Russia is one of their main benefactors, even though the more than €3bn ($3.16bn) that the EU has provided since 2000 dwarfs Russian aid.
Last November, Russia gave Serbia six ageing MiG-29 warplanes. This plays well among Serbs, 64% of whom see NATO as a threat. Serbia’s annual military exercises with Russian troops help reassure its pro-Russian electorate, while the government-friendly media plays down the more frequent exercises with NATO. The two countries have a free-trade agreement, though it excludes Serbia’s most valuable export, the cars manufactured at Fiat’s Serbian plant. This is a perennial source of irritation, and probably one reason why a long-promised visit by Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s prime minister, has still not taken place.