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Dr Ratomir Milikić

Institute for Contemporary History

Belgrade, Serbia

 

SERBIA AND RUSSIA IN THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AT THE END OF THE 20th CENTURY

Vol. XXXIV, 2/2016, pp. 165–178
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2016.2.mil.165-178

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME: The paper reviews relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR/Russia on one hand, and the Council of Europe (CoE) on the other. During the Cold War, the ties with the CoE were quite different for Yugoslavia and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Yugoslavia wanted to develop the relationship, even though it was not a foreign policy priority for the state. On the other hand, as the reason to create the Council was precisely to respond to the spread of „people’s democracies“ behind the Iron Curtain, cooperation with the USSR was quite an unlikely prospect. The changes introduced by perestroika brought Moscow and the CoE closer, but they also accelerated the disintegration of the USSR. Neither Yugoslavia nor the USSR ever joined the CoE; it was their successor states that did. During the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) largely supported the aggression, opposition by a considerable number of PACE members notwithstanding. In line with Kremlin’s official policy towards Serbia and the prevailing public sentiment at home, the most fervent opposition came from members of the Russian Duma.

 

KEYWORDS: Yugoslavia, Russia, USSR, Council of Europe, crisis in Kosovo and Metohija, multilateral diplomacy

 

SOURCES:

  • Arhiv Jugoslavije (AJ), fond 837, Kabinet Predsednika Republike; fond 803, Predsedništvo SFRJ
  • Arhiva Komiteta ministara Saveta Evrope
  • Arhiv Ministarstva inostranih dela Ruske Federacije
  • Arhiv Parlamentarne skupštine Saveta Evrope (PSSE), Yugoslavia – Historic Relations, 1969–1989.
  • Arhiva Savezne skupštine
  • Diplomatski arhiv Ministarstva spoljnih poslova Republike Srbije (DA MSP), Politička arhiva (PA)
  • Politika (1989)

 

REFERENCES:

  • Đerić, Vladimir. Članstvo države u Savetu Evrope, Beogradski centar za ljudska prava, Beograd: 2001.
  • Ушаков, Юрий Викторович. „39-й член Совета Европы“. Международная жизнь, № 3, (1996), 33 (Ushakov, Yurij Viktorovich. „39-j chlen Soveta Evropy“. Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn’, № 3, (1996), 33).
  • Haurbi Ib, i Marta-Liza Magnuson. „Savet Evrope, Rusija i rat u Čečeniji“. http://www.caucasus.dk/rus/publicationrus1.htm (pristupljeno 27. 2013)