{"id":10150,"date":"2017-01-18T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T15:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=10150"},"modified":"2017-01-19T08:29:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T08:29:02","slug":"balkan-autumn-vs-russian-spring-how-russia-tried-to-hold-on-to-the-balkans-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/balkan-autumn-vs-russian-spring-how-russia-tried-to-hold-on-to-the-balkans-in-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBalkan autumn\u201d VS \u201cRussian spring\u201d \u2014 how Russia tried to hold on to the Balkans in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2016 Russia made an unexpected return to the Balkan diplomatic front. After the collapse of the Soviet Union it seemed that all former Yugoslav republics would soon find themselves in the Western sphere of influence, but the process was delayed, and the Russians are still trying to restore their influence in the region. That influence has a very unusual shape…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Yugoslavia and the Western vector<\/h2>\n

Slovenia declared its pro-Western course earlier than the others; it was the economic engine of the former Yugoslavia, which was affected by the war less than the others. It almost immediately took the path of the pro-European integration. In 2004 Slovenia joined the EU and NATO.<\/p>\n

Croatia<\/strong> also took an active pro-Western stance – perhaps the main geopolitical opponent of the arguably pro-Russian Serbia. Since 2009, the country is a NATO member, and since 2013 – a member of the EU.<\/p>\n

Macedonia<\/strong> has been a candidate for the EU since December 2005, but the country\u2019s economy still falls short of the level of even its neighbors in the Balkans. At the Alliance Summit in Bucharest in 2008, an unexpected objection for the Macedonians entrance to NATO came from Greece, which demanded from the Macedonians to change the official name of their country (read more about this old dispute here<\/a>),<\/u><\/p>\n

Serbia<\/strong> has been a candidate for the EU membership since 2012, but its entry into NATO will have to wait – after the bombing of Belgrade the country\u2019s anti-NATO sentiment has been too strong.<\/p>\n

Montenegro<\/strong> came out of the state union with Serbia only in 2006. Since 2010 it has been a candidate for the EU membership, and in December, 2015 they were officially invited to NATO. The question of a formal entry into the Alliance is a matter of time.<\/p>\n

Seemingly, almost all former Yugoslav republics have chosen for the pro-Western path for themselves. Croatia and Slovenia appear to be unreachable to pro-Russian influence, since both countries are already in the EU and NATO and their economies are completely tied to the European Union.<\/p>\n

However, Russia is making its last-ditch effort to consolidate its influence in the rest of the countries fleeing to the West.<\/p>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

On October 5, the Reuters<\/a> website published a strange note , in which the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities reminded Russia that they were ready to negotiate<\/a> \u00a0the payment of a part of the Yugoslav debt of the USSR. And as early as December 22, the official Russian government website reported about the imminent repayment of debt to Bosnia in the amount of $125 million.<\/p>\n

First of all, this is an unfortunate piece of news for the fans of the USSR: after the collapse of the \u201cevil empire\u201d it turned out that it owed money not only to their ideological enemies the Western capitalists, but also to their comrades from the socialist camp. The debts were made in the last years of the USSR, when with low energy prices, the goods supplied by USSR did not cover the cost of goods imported from the satellite countries.<\/p>\n

Background information:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>In 2003 an agreement<\/a> on the settlement of the debt of the former USSR to Yugoslavia was signed between the Government of the Russian Federation and the countries-successors of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia). As a result, Russia recognized the debt of 1.5 billion clearing dollars, and the former Yugoslav republics recognized the debt to the Soviet Union of 200 million clearing dollars. In the end, after netting Russia recognized the debt in the amount of 1 billion 291.9 million clearing dollars. Clearing dollars was a fictitious currency, which was used in mutual settlements between the USSR and Yugoslavia. One clearing dollar in these calculations according to the contract amounted to 62.5 US cents. The combined debt amount of Russia reached a total of 807 million US dollars.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The debt was divided between the former republics, and the share of Bosnia and Herzegovina accounted for 15.5% of the debt – 200 million clearing dollars, or approximately $125 million.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2006, taking advantage of high energy prices, Russia repaid ahead of schedule the debt of the USSR to the Paris Club of creditor countries and it seemed that the issue of the debts of the USSR had been closed. However, some debts remained to the countries outside the Paris Club, where negotiations dragged on. If in the case of Western countries, Russia returned the debt in cash, they tried to push the \u201cYugoslavs\u201d to accept a part of the debt in goods, and the process was delayed.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 2010 that Russia returned its debt to Slovenia<\/a> (129 million dollars) \u2013 partly in cash, and partly (35 million dollars) in the form of a Svetlyak-class patrol boat.<\/p>\n

In 2011 the debt to Croatia <\/a>(185 million dollars) was repaid \u2013 with cash and equipment for the \u201cSisak-S\u201d power station.<\/p>\n

In 2013 the debts to Serbia<\/a> (288 million dollars) and Montenegro <\/a>(18 million dollars) were repaid.<\/p>\n

The debt to Macedonia<\/a> was repaid only in 2016 by constructing a gas pipeline – the contractor was JSC \u201cStroytransgaz\u201d, one of the companies of Gennady Timchenko.<\/p>\n

But the negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) stretched on, because the Bosnians wanted to take receive the payment in cash. Then the issue of sharing of payments between the members of the Bosnian Federation got in the way. By the way, it has been observed long ago that the Russian attempt to impose any form of \u201cfederalization\u201d on Ukraine is similar to the solution of the Bosnian problem, which in the end resulted only in even greater problems for B&H. In the end, the issue with the Russian payments sharing was settled only in the end of 2016.<\/p>\n

What is 125 million dollars for B&H? This is about 1.5% of the country\u2019s annual budget, hence, this money will surely not be spare cash. By the way, Bosnia<\/a> decided not to supply weapons to Ukraine back in 2015.<\/p>\n

Serbia<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

All year Serbia and Russia were actively developed their military-technical cooperation. At the end of the year the Russians held several joint military exercises with the Serbs:<\/p>\n