The only politician who was president, prime minister and speaker of parliament in the Republic of Croatia, Stipe Mesic, has spoken about Russia's influence in the Balkans after the occupation of Ukraine, if Serbia can really turn to the West and distance itself from Russia, but he also sent some messages to the Kosovo authorities about what they need to do to make Kosovo even more recognizable.

He told Geopost that dialogue should be held with Russia, negotiations should be held, not with weapons, but with arguments, as he said.

Mesic also assessed that Ukraine has received enough weapons in the West and that it can make very good resistance in the war with Russia, but he is of the opinion that today no dispute can be resolved by arms.

Full interview:

How do you see Russian influence in the Balkans after World War II to this day?

Mesic:

Well, that influence was not very big.

The Russians have always had aspirations to reach the warm sea.

Such views of the warm sea still remain from Tsarist Russia, but Russia itself, namely the Soviet Union, did not have as much influence.

The Soviet Union did not invade Yugoslavia, the influence was not so great, then there was a recovery, where initially was the Tito-Stalin conflict, and then it was a calming situation and at that time Yugoslavia disintegrated but also the Soviet Union.

Russia has recovered and today is again a great power.

America understood the disappearance of the Soviet Union as a victory for the West, however, the Soviet Union collapsed due to internal misunderstandings.

Russia has strengthened and now we have to dialogue with it, not with weapons, but with arguments.

Russia could hardly accept Western nuclear-guided missiles coming to the Russian border, so negotiations had to take place.

Why did they insist that Ukraine should join both the UN and the NATO pact, when this is objectively impossible, because Russia will never accept NATO.

How does Croatia view Russian aggression in Ukraine?

Mesic:

Everyone accuses of aggression, because it should not have happened.

Ukraine is defending, it had a good part of its army, however, it got so many weapons in the West that Ukraine can be defended today, but nothing is solved with weapons.

Those issues that were unresolved still remain, so they must sit at the table again, just as every war has ended in peace, so will it.

Can the crisis in Ukraine affect the existing problems in the Balkans, ie in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska?

How do you see this?

Mesiq:

That crisis, in essence, can not cause a conflict in the former Yugoslavia, but there are those hotheads in Serbia and Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina who think they can conquer the world again.

When hundreds of thousands of citizens died in the war to disintegrate BiH, BiH did not remain divided, it united, just like Kosovo, which had many victims, and Croatia, were victims of war, but Kosovo remained within its borders and Croatia remained inside. its boundaries.

Those who speak of the "Serbian world" again call for a change of borders, but Aca (Aleksandar) Vucic can do nothing there, not even Milorad Dodik in BiH, but they can create obstacles, misunderstandings.

They are a divisive factor and Europe and America need to understand that.

It is not enough to say "We will stop Dodik from going to America", "we will stop Vuiqiiq from going to America",

they would not even go to America.

So what does this mean for them?

They should be prosecuted for robbing their citizens, then it would be effective.

Are you optimistic that Serbia can finally turn its back on Putin and Russia and turn to the West, or will Russia always use Serbia as a factor of instability in the Balkans?

Mesic:

While this government is in Serbia, they will try to sit in two chairs, one chair will be turned by Putin and the other to Europe and America.

Which will prevail, after all, does not matter much, because Serbia was not the decisive factor in European politics.

Do you have a message for Kosovo?

Mesic:

A delegation should be sent to visit the countries of South America, Asia, Africa, but it costs a lot, but what Kosovo can afford is for a serious delegation to visit the missions of all countries in the United Nations with letters addressed to their chiefs and governments.

So, visit the representatives of each country, the smallest and the largest and explain why Kosovo should be recognized.

There has to be a campaign with serious proposals that they will understand, because going to a place just like that will not help.

Each UN representative will hand over the letter to the Government of his country and the head of his country./TheGeopost/