Photo: AP Photo/Dmitri LovetskyJust as Serbia was never Slobodan Milosevic, neither is Russia Vladimir Putin. She is on the streets and in the newsrooms of independent media. And those who defend the Russian invasion in Serbia are not real Russophiles, but Putinophiles. They have nothing to do with real Russian culture. Kandinsky, Malevich, Platonov, Stravinsky mean nothing to them. They are much closer to the rulers of the Romanov dynasty, Rasputin or Stalin
The fighting and destruction in Ukraine continues. The gap between Russia and NATO members is getting deeper. Also the divisions in Serbia - they were not reconciled even by joining the condemnation of the invasion in the United Nations. In all this, the Russian people have been forgotten.
On the one hand, prejudices and atavisms from the Cold War have been resurrected. Everything Russian is dangerous, anticivilizational, to say the least โ suspicious. Otherwise, I guess the citizens of Moscow or Saint Petersburg would have stopped the war. But how? If the British could not do it with mass anti-war demonstrations in London before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, why would the Russians succeed? Especially under an authoritarian government that treats the opposition and the media incomparably worse than even the regime in Serbia.
On the contrary, there are no real Russophiles, but Putinophiles. They have nothing to do with real Russian culture. It is the history of the struggle for freedom, justice, human dignity and equality, both under the tsars and under Stalin: Dostoevsky was pardoned at the funeral home, Tolstoy was excommunicated, Babel was shot, Harms died of starvation in prison... Likewise, the modernist significance is immeasurable. Russian culture. How can you imagine contemporary art without Kandinsky, Malevich, Platonov, Stravinsky...?
They mean nothing at all to Putinophiles. They are much closer to the rulers of the Romanov dynasty, Rasputin or Stalin. Although their mouths are full of American and European oppression in Africa, Asia, South America, together with Putin they despise Lenin because he "invented Ukraine". And precisely his principle about the right of every nation to self-determination, including secession, was carved into the anti-colonial struggle.
Despite the arrests and punishments, there are citizens, activists and public figures in Russia who raise their voices against the attack on Ukraine. There are also the few media that expect to be shut down at any moment just because they are doing their job professionally and fighting for peace. On Thursday, after more than 30 years of operation, radio Echo of Moscow, which had the same significance and symbolism in Putin's Russia as Radio B 92 had in Miloลกeviฤ's Serbia, was shut down.
Anyone who stood up against wars and authoritarianism in Serbia during the nineties knows how difficult a situation they are in. Also, what a personal price they pay. Their actions must never be curtailed or forgotten.
Because, just as Serbia was never Slobodan Milosevic, neither is Russia Vladimir Putin. She is on the streets and in the newsrooms of independent media.
Hang in there, brothers!
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
A group of individuals has created two websites where public procurement of the Telecom and IT sectors can be searched and compared. They invite the media, experts and citizens to review the documentation and submit reasoned observations
Very soon it could become obvious whether Milan Radoiฤiฤ has left Serbia or not
The hospital formed a commission for an extraordinary expert check and informed the health inspection. Cases of death during childbirth in Serbia rarely receive a judicial epilogue.
Two unions of public services supported the request of FDU students for information about RTS employees, since claims appeared in the public that it was a request for "files". The students say they are looking for "public truth about public service."
Among those pardoned is the man who attacked a citizen who came to ask about the street in the office of the mayor of Kosjeriฤ in April. The pardon applies only to one of the two offenses, and the injured party announces a constitutional appeal.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vuฤiฤ's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub ล abiฤ even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vuฤiฤ pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkaloviฤ. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenkoviฤ, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
