How a pro-Russian nationalist movement grew in Serbia – BBC News

https://youtu.be/NQBnY3RsXes

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put in

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when Russia invaded Ukraine countries

around the world were forced to take

sides

my country Serbia has resisted imposing

sanctions on Russia

and the French Hardline Ultra

nationalist group is pushing for closer

links with an old Ally prefer

Russell

I've been shocked to watch as the war in

Ukraine reopened Old Wounds from our own

vulcanoes and now Serbia's nationalists

are on the rise again

with exclusive backstage access I spent

the last year investigating some of

their most extreme voices

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foreign

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My Name Is Jovana garagiewsky and I'm a

BBC journalist

since 2020 I've heard more and more

about a new far-right anti-immigrant

group people's Patrol

it has a reputation for violence and it

was founded by this man Damian

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it is

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despite his extreme anti-migrant views

we were interested in filming pleasure

Beach to understand his pro-russian

perspective

Army put this

we also in Belgrade and in whole Serbia

put that zone are t-shirts on our walls

and we support our brothers

foreign

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by mobilizing thousands in support of

Russia's War e

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so why are some serbs so pro-russia in

stark contrast to most of Europe

the two countries share a common

Orthodox Christian faith and Slavic

roots

they were allies in both world wars and

like the Russians serves have a sizable

anti-western and anti-natal sentiment

especially when it comes to Kosovo

Russia because

territory

there have been surf cities and key

monasteries here for centuries

but by the 1980s it was ethnic albanians

who were the majority population in

Kosovo and they wanted greater autonomy

then like Serbia Kosovo was part of

Yugoslavia

but when the Federation tore itself

apart in a Bloody War Serbia tried to

hold on to Kosovo

both sides committed atrocities but when

the serbs began ethnically cleansing the

Albanian population from parts of Kosovo

NATO intervened

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after 11 weeks of airstrikes the Serb

forces backed down

they preserved some of the ruins of

NATO's attack

a permanent reminder of the lives lost

and for some How the West had wronged

them

then in 2008 Kosovo declared unilateral

independence from Serbia while the West

recognized it Russia backed Serbia and

used its seat in the U.N security

Council to block recognition

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over the years I have witnessed a

worrying rise in nationalism

same kind of nationalism the tortoise

region apart

since Connecticut is one of the most

extreme voices of my generation I want

to know how he became so radicalized

now a rope access construction worker in

Belgrade Canada which tells me that back

in 2011 he'd studied in Kosovo foreign

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accepted an invitation to visit Russia's

Infamous paramilitary group Wagner

it made this video to celebrate the

links

is

Wagner was already notorious for

committing atrocities in Syria Africa

and now in Ukraine

in the last decade Russia has reportedly

used paramilitary groups like Wagner to

secretly stir up tensions in neighboring

countries

in Ukraine these groups provided the

spark that would ultimately lead to

Russia annexing parts of the East

could it be that Russia's grooming

people like nejovich to do something

similar in the Balkans

is

foreign

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I catch another glimpse of how Russia's

our lives are at work

in Serbia's Parliament nationalist

parties have formed a coalition to

oppose a new EU proposal which they fear

would force Serbia to recognize kosovo's

Independence

they believe Serbia's president Boutique

is considering approving it

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now it seems Serbia's president who for

years has expertly played the West

against the East is about to abandon

Putin

and that has angered Serb nationalists

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to oppose the EU deal Indonesia which

has called another demonstration

protesters gather outside the

presidential Palace to ensure president

fortuit hears the message

no recognition of Kosovo and support for

Russia

backstage just before his speech Tunisia

which is taken aside by a man wearing a

Wagner insignia

tensions are high

earlier that day police arrested several

members of Canada's people's Patrol

and knejevich is also under radar

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he's charged with inciting a violent

overthrow and taken to prison

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a couple of months later Serbia's

politics is turned on its head breaking

news that eight pupils and a security

guard have been killed in a school

shooting in the Serbian capital of

Belgrade

two mass shootings had left 19 people

dead

it sparked a massive Grassroots movement

against violence

week after week Serbia sword's largest

protests in decades

far larger than anything organized by

people's Patrol

sensing an opportunity

joins the crowds

after two months in prison he's been

released from detention

that's it

should be Promenade

Social Services

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can be seen among them

I have seen the tides turn against the

nationalists in the year I spent with

them

for now the violent rhetoric has been

drowned out by peaceful protests

but as long as the Kosovo issue remains

unresolved

Russia will find friends in Serbia

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