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(saa)—an agreement to enhance trade and political links with the eu
and to clear the way for Serbia to eventually be considered for membership
in the European Union—until Putin’s speech in Munich in
March 2007, after which Koštunica did a U-turn and rejected the saa.
Wolfgang Petritsch, the European Union’s former ambassador
to Serbia and the High Representative in Bosnia, has criticized the
West not only for its procrastination over Kosovo, which delayed a
determination of its final status, but also for its insensitive handling
of Russia in the post–Cold War period, which has encouraged Russian
assertiveness over the Balkans. 481 Other observers, however, see
Russia’s engagement in the Balkans in a different light. Dimitrije
Trenjin, a foreign relations expert from the Carnegie Foundation
in Moscow, thinks that Russia is staging its comeback in the Balkans
and the Black Sea region without “territorial ambitions” but by
“hoisting its banner high over oil and gas pipelines.” 482 According to
Trenjin, Russian interest in building oil and gas pipelines across the
Balkans is connected to the prospect of the Balkan countries becoming
members of the European Union, which is not contrary to Russian
claims that the eu membership for the Balkan states is welcome,
but always had a problem with nato expansion. Serbia is the only
country that is still resisting nato membership and responding positively
to Russia’s efforts to strengthen its presence in the region. 483
The United States and Western Europe bear some responsibility
for the political power accrued by Koštunica, especially after 2003. After
Đinđić’s assassination, the government he had headed was brought
down amid charges of corruption and criminality. Eu and u.s. representatives
in Belgrade accepted these charges as true, thereby strengthening
the position of Koštunica, who went on to become the next
prime minister. In general, after Milošević’s removal in 2000 there was
agreement in the West to consider Serbia a newly minted democracy
481 Wolfgang Petrisch, Russia, Kosovo and Europe, Sudosteuropa Mitteilungen, January 2008
482 Monitor, 29 . February 2008 .
483 Ibid.