Kara-Murza: Sad For Current Serbian Authorities To Be Errand Boy for Putin, Patrushev

Vladimir Kara-Murza (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube}

Russian opposition representative Vladimir Kara-Murza has said that he is surprised that the question of holding a Russian opposition seminar in Belgrade in May last year had become an issue and was commented only now by Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin.

"It is funny that Vulin has reacted only now. This was such a long time ago. I will remind you that it was reported at the end of December that Vulin flew to Moscow in early May and handed Nikolai Patrushev the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation a transcript of our talks," Kara-Murza told BETA on Jan. 13.

He said that the Serbian media had reported that Patrushev personally thanked Vulin at the time for the information and that the Russia 24 state TV station had run a report on how Serbia's secret services were excellent for reporting "what Russiaphobes are up to." Kara-Murza explained that this was how the Russian authorities called those who stepped up against "the authoritarian and corrupt regime of President Vladimir Putin."

"The Serbian-Russian friendship means a lot, I am a historian, I know how tightly were are connected both historically and spiritually. This is how it is always going to be, and it is important for both the Serbs and Russians, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the, if you like, somewhat perverse friendship between the authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regime in Belgrade and the absolutely authoritarian regime in Moscow," he said. "The fact that the current Serbian authorities are ready to voluntarily be errand boys for Putin and Patrushev is very sad," Kara-Murza said.