Dragan Trifkovic: Crimea - Russia, Kosovo - Serbia
On October 27, a delegation of Serbian politicians arrived in Crimea on a three-day visit. The program of the trip includes a meeting with colleagues from the regional parliament, as well as the presidential envoy in the Crimean Federal District Oleg Belaventsev, the head of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov, the Chairman of the State Council of the Republic Vladimir Konstantinov.
The group included representatives of the opposition Democratic Party and the Serbian patriotic movement “Doors”, who recently announced their unification into the “Patriotic Bloc”.
One of those who came as part of the Serbian delegation was a young politician, a supporter of Russia and Novorossia, Dragan Trifkovic.
- Hello, Dragana! Glad to see you, especially here in the Crimea. I think this is very symbolic. What could you tell about your trip? What did you have time to do, with whom did you see, what did you agree about?
- I am for the first time in the Crimea. She arrived as a member of the delegation of the Patriotic Bloc of Serbia, which consists of two parties: the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Doors. We arrived in Crimea with an official visit. By the way, we are the first organization that last year made a statement that Crimea is Russia, and Kosovo is Serbia. Except us, no one said anything like it. Now we have decided to transfer support for the return of the Crimea to Russia with our arrival.
The second reason for the visit was the desire to bring the situation in Serbia and work on the development of our relations. As for Serbia, and we said that and the media, the situation is very difficult. Serbia 15 years is in the process of European integration, which led to the degradation of Serbia in a political and economic sense. And we believe that this integration is harmful and must be stopped.
Therefore, we asked Russia, and especially the Crimea administration, to support us in the initiative of a referendum. The initiative is. So that the people would say whether they support European integration with the condition of renouncing Kosovo. Our government does not want to organize such a referendum, because it is afraid of the result. We believe that nothing can be accomplished by force, and the will of the people must be respected. According to the latest polls, 78% of people in Serbia are for the strategic cooperation between Serbia and Russia. And the paradox is that, at the same time, we don’t have a single political party in parliament that would speak out for strategic cooperation between Serbia and Russia.
- How was this possible?
- This is a consequence of the 15-year presence of the West on the political scene of Serbia. Before this presence was prepared. That is, we work in a situation where they can penetrate the Serbian authorities and control the country through officials, organizations, the media and so on. These are the parameters on which the political arena stands. The problem is this. But another problem is that the parties, in order to get to power, during the election campaign, say that they are in favor of strategic cooperation with Russia and for the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija as part of Serbia, because they know that the people love it. And when they come to power, they immediately forget about election promises and only carry out traitorous orders from Brussels and Washington, which do great harm to Serbian national interests.
As for European integration, the problem is that the West conducts a hypocritical policy against Serbia and constantly sets new and new conditions. As soon as we do some, others appear. It is clear that they separate Kosovo and Metohia and openly work on it. We have come to a state where every day there is a continuation of European integration, which can lead to the suicide of Serbia. The first step towards this is the signing of a treaty of understanding with Kosovo, which the European Union insists on, and which would mean a formal recognition of Kosovo. In fact, the Serbian government has still done everything to help the Albanian side create a “state” and recognized it! Established the border between Central Serbia and its southern edge, abolished the Serbian government departments in Kosovo and Metohija, and integrated the security and rights system into Kosovo. In fact, everything is done, lacking only formal recognition.
The next step of the Serbian agreement with the EU involves the harmonization of foreign policy, which implies the imposition of sanctions against Russia. And this for Serbia would be suicide, political and economic. We talked about this here in Crimea, we asked for support, and we also showed our support for Russian policy and the referendum that was held in Crimea. By the way, we received a protest note from the Ukrainian embassy, she received an e-mail from DSS and “Doors” yesterday. They warned us that they were protesting against our visit to Crimea, that this was “occupied Ukrainian territory”, and that they would take “legal measures against us” ". What measures are we talking about, they did not explain ...
This is a brief about our trip. We had significant meetings with the leadership of the Crimea, after that we fly to Moscow. There, over the course of two days, we will have meetings in the State Duma, the Foreign Ministry and other agencies where we can ask for support for our campaign to organize a referendum in Serbia.
- What are your impressions of the Crimea? Have you received confirmation that here - really Russia?
- Crimea 23 of the year was part of Ukraine because of one erroneous decision, when historically Russian territory was annexed to the Ukrainian SSR as part of the USSR. Then, after the separation of Ukraine, the formation of an independent state, Crimea found itself in a foreign country. But there is no doubt that this was and is Russian territory. We had the opportunity to visit cultural sites: the Ethnographic Museum, the Vorontsov Palace in Yalta and the Livadia Palace of the Romanovs. Visible here story Crimea, Russian emperors lived here, it was all built Russian emperors. And there is no doubt that this is Russian land, it is not even asked.
As for our Patriotic bloc, we consider the Crimea as a region within Russia and respect the referendum and the will of the people. Our opinion differs from that of the government in Serbia. They persistently say that they are in favor of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian ambassador wrote to us in a protest note about this. The Serbian leadership calls Crimea Ukrainian, ostensibly in the name of the idea of preserving Kosovo and Metohija as part of Serbia, which is completely erroneous. The statement itself is erroneous, on the one hand, and on the other, they themselves are doing everything to separate Kosovo from other territories of Serbia.
- By the way, you were in Kosovo. What is the situation there, how do people live, what do they think about the future of Serbia?
- Last year I was in Kosovo and Metohija, I traveled all over the territory: north of Kosovo, Kosovo Mitrovica, where Serbs still live, Gracanica, Orahovac, also enclaves near the southern border of Kosovo, Prizren - the Serbian royal city, which now only 7 is left -8 Serbs, all the others squeezed out ... I traveled around the ancient Serbian monasteries. We talked with people, saw on the spot how they live.
I can say that the most difficult situation is in enclaves. People have a circle of movement with a diameter of not more than two kilometers. The enclaves are mainly located around churches. Now there are problems with them, since Albanians buy houses that the Serbs left behind. The Serbs themselves there can neither be employed, deprived of all rights. Have neither health care nor security services. There is Kosovo police, and Albanians also occupied hospitals. All that Serbia built, they took away and appropriated ... In the enclave there is one bus that goes twice a week to Kosovska Mitrovica. This is usually a bus to 50 seats, and 100 is stuffed into it, so they can barely breathe. And everyone needs to be in Kosovska Mitrovica, because only there they can buy medicines and other necessary things that are not in place. Leaving the enclave, they do not dare speak Serbian, they are constantly being oppressed.
After the arrival of NATO troops in Kosovo, after the bombing of 1999 of the year and especially after the pogrom in 2004, more than 150 of Serbian monasteries, which were built in the 12-14 century, were destroyed. Serbian cemeteries are also destroyed. That is, they not only committed genocide against the Serbs, even the dead became victims of the genocide! But, what is the saddest thing, the people who already suffer and bear great sacrifices, not that they do not have support from their state — the state is working against them.
- Probably, you told them that you are in an organization that is in favor of expanding cooperation with Russia. How do they react to it?
- People in Kosovo and Metohija see Russia's only hope and live with such faith. I am sure that the return of Kosovo and Metohija to Serbia is only a matter of time. Do not ask if it will be asked when it will be. And they pin their hopes on Russia. And I must say that it is not only now. Today, many people around the world see Russia hoping for the return of broken international ties and the establishment of new values.
For the Serbs, Russia has always been a support. This is not surprising if you look into the story. Russia has really helped us many times, the Serbian people remember it. And during the Serbian-Turkish war, and in the First World War, when Nicholas II brought a huge sacrifice, wanting to help the Serbian people, and during the Second World War, when the Red Army liberated us. The Serbian people remember that for them one hope is Russia, and especially with the current development of events. And we, as a Serbian delegation in the Crimea, said that for us the return of the Crimea to Russia is the hope that Kosovo will also be returned to Serbia.
- And before you go to Crimea, you in Serbia founded an information project, which is also related to relations with Russia. Tell us more about the Eurasian Forum.
- Exactly. Before visiting the Crimea, we established a union of journalists in Serbia, which is called the Eurasian Forum of Journalists. Considering the fact that the majority of journalistic associations in Serbia, and there are several of them, are mainly oriented to the West, while the West controls most Serbian publications.
Unfortunately, we don’t have Russian media except Sputnik and a couple of Russian portals that only work on the Internet. No Russian radio, no Russian television, no Russian newspapers. And for us it was important to create a union that would become an alternative to associations that spread Western information, which is fundamentally wrong. The forum was founded by me, my colleague Branko Zhujovic, who for many years wrote for Voice of Russia, and now lives in China, and another colleague, Dusan Kovachev from Serbia. In this union, we gather journalists who are engaged in the Eurasian expanse and write objectively.
Our goal is to gather in one place journalists who are engaged in research journalism, who write the truth, and not to make a structure that would be engaged in propaganda. And we will be pleased if you and other journalists from Russia join us. We have big plans. We will organize exhibitions, conferences, round tables in Belgrade and, we hope, in other places. I think that this is a great project that will be able to connect objective independent journalists who are interested in the Eurasian space.
- And you have been to Novorossia, in Lugansk and in Donetsk. How do you assess the situation there?
- I was in Lugansk in November last year after the most fierce military actions, I was in the team of international observers at the elections in the Lugansk People’s Republic. I also had the opportunity to visit the destroyed villages and talk to the people who live there. After that, I was in Donetsk in May of this year at the conference Donbass: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, where politicians from the European Parliament and also from Serbia spoke. We discussed the situation in Novorossia.
What could I say about her?
I tracked information from the very beginning of the confrontation in Ukraine. Having already had experience of the Yugoslav wars and already the Serbian experience, it was immediately clear to me that this conflict was caused from outside. He is not ethnic, not religious, he is caused by politics. More specifically, the politicians manipulated by the West. It was clear to me before meeting people on the spot. I believe that people have experienced tragic events, terrible things. As for the current situation, I am in contact with people and I know that now there is less provocation on the Ukrainian side and the conflict, one can say, is frozen. But it is not complete. How it will develop further, much depends on the situation in the world.
During my visit in May, I saw many differences from November. For several months, Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics were able to build independent states in the full sense of the word. There are security services, police, army with a uniform. People working in the administration have been trained. The economic system, which functions in these military conditions, the pension and monetary system, was created, and the ruble was introduced into circulation. I see that this is a sovereign territory, independent of the Kiev authorities. I think that they will no longer be a part of Ukraine, in any case, of the Ukraine that we see it now.
I believe that the people in Ukraine eventually litter, that they simply used it, and that there is no reason to fight for American interests, to take American weapon and train with US and NATO officers, bomb and shoot their fellows. I am sure that this will happen, it is only a matter of time. This is the only way. In the EU, they will not find happiness.
As a person from Serbia, who has been in the process of European integration for 15 for years, I can say that he brought a lot of harm and no benefit to Serbia. And there is an example of other countries, for example, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, which have become completely impoverished due to joining the EU.
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