Russian anthem played as Serbia, split between EU and Moscow, marks the end of World War II By Reuters
© Reuters. Zoran Maric, President of the Russian Minority Party, holds a poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin during Immortal Regiment March on Victory Day, marking the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II in Belgrade, Serbia
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BELGRADE (Reuters) – The Russian national anthem was played in Belgrade on Monday as hundreds of Serbs, including senior government officials, gathered for Victory Day, showing the political strain of a country long aligned with Moscow but now trying to stay member of the EU.
At a march to pay tribute to Serbian and Soviet troops who died in World War II, someone held a giant letter Z – symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and another had brought a life-size photo cut out of cardboard by President Vladimir Putin.
Serbia, which was bombed by NATO two decades ago and has had close cultural ties with Russia for centuries, has averted pressure to take sides since Russia invaded Ukraine, including calls from the West to join sanctions against Moscow.
Hundreds of people with pictures of ancestors fighting in World War II gathered late Monday morning in a city park to march to a cemetery.
“I am extremely sad today because of the divisions we are witnessing both at home and abroad. Divisions between those who support the West and those who support Russia,” said Miroslav Milutinovic, 70, a retired mechanical engineer , who had a picture of his father. .
The national anthems of Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Serbia were played as ambassadors, and ministers laid wreaths at a memorial. Ukraine’s ambassador had laid wreaths the day before without any Serbian officials present.
The crowd included Serbia’s parliamentary speaker Ivica Dacic, Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Labor Minister Daria Kisic Tepavcevic, all skeptics of closer ties to the West.
President Aleksandar Vucic, a former nationalist who has become a strong supporter of EU membership, was re-elected last month after campaigning to make the EU bid a priority. A new cabinet still to be formed after last month’s election is expected to openly exclude pro-Moscow political figures.