A mini Russia emerges in Serbia as thousands flee war

[1/5]Vadim Morus, Russian professional skater and trainer, practices for his performance in Belgrade, Serbia, June 19, 2024. REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRUSSIAN CLIENTELE

Viktor, 42, a veterinarian from St. Petersburg, fled Russian mobilisation in the fall of 2022. Without the necessary qualifications to practise in Serbia, he works as a handyman in Belgrade, exclusively serving Russians.

“I repair plumbing, electrical installations, windows, and even make furniture. I don’t really need Serbian customers,” said Viktor, who asked not to be named for fear of his family’s safety back in Russia.

Relations between Serbia and Russia date back centuries and remain cordial today, although Serbia is also trying to join the European Union, which condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

After World War I, thousands of so-called White Russians fled the Communists during the civil war to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

Still, many struggle to integrate and prefer instead to cling to a mini Russia inside Serbia. Ironically many Serbians support Putin and do not share the views of those who fled.

“The call of Russian culture is too strong for Russian emigrants in the first generation to even want to fit into the society in which they found themselves, regardless of whether it is Serbian or Western,” said Belgrade-based political scientist Aleksandar Djokic.

Morus the ice skater hesitated to elaborate on his reasons for leaving Russia, but his fiancée Alexandra Mashkanova stepped in.

“We left due to ideological reasons. A few days after February 24, we were trying to understand what was happening, and then we decided to leave,” she said.

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Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Edward McAllister and Sharon Singleton

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Reports on the Western Balkans and Ukraine. Previously worked with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network as editor-trainer. While serving as a correspondent for the Associated Press covered the war in Kosovo in 1998-1999, the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia and Montenegro, insurgencies in North Macedonia and the Presevo Valley, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. During the 1990s worked as an editor and correspondent at-large for Belgrade’s Radio B92 covering wars in Croatia and Bosnia and peace processes between Israel and the Palestinian territories and in Northern Ireland. Awarded with APME Deadline Reporting Award in 2004 for the capture of Saddam.

Source link : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/mini-russia-emerges-serbia-thousands-flee-war-2024-09-09/

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Publish date : 2024-09-10 07:00:00

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