Even during the Balkan crisis, Serbia supported Russia, but the country is also a candidate member of the European Union. “They feel that the estrangement from the rest of Europe is becoming very big. Furthermore, they think that what the Russians do on principle can no longer be tolerated, so they reject their Slav brothers,’ says Hammelburg.
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pro-Russian
Russia supported Belgrade in 2008 during its opposition to the independence of Kosovo, the former southern province of Serbia. As a result, the Serbian population harbors strong pro-Russian sentiments. Furthermore, the country is completely dependent on Russian gas, even though it has recently begun to diversify its energy supplies.
A spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry said Serbia was under unprecedented pressure to impose sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported. “What a strange position: America is putting pressure on Serbia and the Serbian minister is calling for action against Russia,” the spokeswoman wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Hungary
The tide now seems to be turning not only in Serbia. Things seem to be changing in the neighboring northern country of Hungary as well. According to Hammelburg, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has given the first signs that he sees reason to consider his positions towards Russia.
“Orbán feels it’s time to recover”
“He literally has a price now because he has money from the European Union that is in a reserve fund.” According to Hammelburg, Orbán would like to raise that money, but he must first meet the European criteria. «He also feels that he risks isolating himself too much, for example because of the question of the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. He feels I think it’s time to pull over.’