Programming with a Vengeance
// Russian TV Approved Djindjic Assassination
A serious scandal has come up in relations between Russia and Serbia after Rossiya television channel commentator Konstantin Semin expressed approval of the assassination of Serbian prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on live television. That insulting statement elicited a sharp protest from Belgrade and almost cast a pall over Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Serbia.
The scandalous commentary was heard late in the evening last Thursday on the program Vesti plyus (News Plus), which was devoted to events in Belgrade, where, after a public meeting to protest the secession of Kosovo, a mob had attacked several embassies and wreaked havoc in the city's center. “Today, the city's residents most likely recalled other meetings,” Semin said. “They recalled the raging crowd that overthrew old man Milosevic. How the country, giddy from liberal promises, accompanied Western puppet Zoran Djindjic to his final resting place with tears – the person who tore down the legendary Serbian Army and special services, sold the heroes of the Serbian resistance to The Hague for abstract economic aid and received the bullet he deserved.”
The next day, the Serbian embassy demanded an explanation from the All-Russia State Radio and Television Broadcasting Co. The Serbian diplomats wanted to know whether the comment reflected the position of the state television channel or that of Semin independently. And, of course, they expected an apology. In private conversations with the Kommersant correspondent, Serbian state representatives expressed themselves even more strongly, calling the comment “approval of state terrorism.” In addition, they said that the insult to the memory of the first prime minister of democratic Serbia, who was murdered on March 12, 2003, was an indirect accusation against the current president, Boris Tadic, who deputy party leader under Djindjic. Kommersant has learned, however, that neither Serbian Ambassador to Russia Stanimir Vukicevic nor other Serbian diplomats had been able to reach the management of the television channel.
On February 23, the Day of the Defender of the Homeland, a Russian state holiday, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the incident and then sent a protest to the management of Rossiya stating that “For Serbia, the statement of the journalist Semin, in which he insults the democratically elected prime minister Zoran Djindjic and justifies his murder, is absolutely unacceptable.” The Serbian minister expressed “disappointment at the appearance of such a comment on Russian state television, especially at a moment when Serbia is fighting for its territorial integrity” and demanded that the station unambiguously distance itself from that statement.
Yesterday, the Liberal Democratic Party faction in the Serbian parliament demanded that an urgent meeting of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and accused Russia of “gross interference in the domestic affairs of Serbia.” The party warned that, if Moscow does not make “convincing apologies,” the parliament should recall the ambassador from Russia.
Although the Liberal Democratic Party's demands are unlikely to receive the support of the other parties in the parliament, it is clear that the Russian commentator's statement has hit a nerve in Serbia. The scandal has arisen at a very inconvenient moment, not only because of the countries' joint fight against Kosovar independence, but because the two countries are entering a new level of partnership, as manifested by the signing of an important oil and gas agreement at the Kremlin last month that will strengthen Gazprom's position in the Balkans. Finally, the scandal broke out just before the Russian first deputy prime minister's visit and has almost spoiled the atmosphere of the event.
Be that as it may, the management of the Rossiya television channel, as of yesterday, as not considered it necessary to apologize for the insulting statement if its journalist or even to comment on it. A source at the channel said that “no repressive measures have been taken against Konstantin Semin yet, although they have not been ruled out.” It any case, the television station's reaction will be too late – the scandal has already begun.
The meeting in Belgrade that Semin was commenting on was almost the cause of another scandal, this time between Russia and the United States. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrook, who is now the main foreign policy advisor to the Hilary Clinton presidential campaign, blamed Russia for the disorder, saying on the CNN television network that it had been encouraging extreme elements in Serbia for the last year. Moscow protested instantly, but the State Department was able to head off scandal with a speedy statement that the Bush administration does not hold that Russia is tied to the events in Belgrade.
That does not mean that Moscow and Washington avoided squabbling over Kosovo altogether. On Saturday, U.S. Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nicholas Burns called Russia's Kosovo policy “cynical.” In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the U.S. policy on a Kosovo settlement “cynical.” The affair went no further than that, however.
Gennady Sysoev, Arina Borodina
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 26, 2008
|
