Serbia's balancing act under the spotlight as Putin arrives in Belgrade

The roads from Nikola Tesla airport to downtown Belgrade were bedecked with Russian and Serbian flags on Thursday, welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Serbian capital.

Putin was the guest of honor at a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade by the Red Army at the end of World War II. 31,000 Soviet soldiers died wresting the city from the hands of the Nazis. The military parade will include 3,000 Serbian soldiers saluting Putin, tanks, boats and airplanes, culminating in a speech by the Russian President.

"Russia, just as it was in the past, will always see Serbia as a closest ally," Putin said.

A long-standing alliance

The importance of Russia to Serbia goes far beyond a decades-old battle. The Balkan nation relies on Russian gas and has refused to impose sanctions on Russia despite EU pressure to do so. Indeed, Serbia is hoping to fill some of the gap left by Russia's counter-measures with its own agricultural products and woo Russian investors to rescue flagging state enterprises.

Another spot of contention is the South Stream gas pipeline. Opposed by the European Union, which has worries about Russia being both pipeline owner and gas supplier, Serbia has been under stress from Moscow to begin building. Putin is likely to press Serbian Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic on the matter when the two leaders meet for talks after the parade.

Belgrade is also under onus to Russia for keeping its breakaway Kosovo region out of the United Nations. Kosovo declared independence in 2008 after years of violent struggle. Russia's threat of a veto, however, keeps the small republic out of the international body.

The path to Europe

Serbia sees its economic future with the EU, however, and while Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic declared on Thursday that his nation "will not compromise its morals with any kind of bad behavior towards Russia," Prime Minister Vucic insisted that this was a day to show Putin how "Serbia is on the European path."

This is perhaps why construction of the South Stream pipeline, meant to bypass Ukraine and bring Russian gas right into the heart of Europe, has quietly been put off. Ascension to the EU is improbable before 2020, so Belgrade has some time to align its policies. It has even softened its stance on Kosovo in hopes of join the 28-nation bloc, many of whom, Germany included, recognize the region as an independent republic.

The actual date of Belgrade's liberation was October 20th, 1944, but the parade was moved forward to accommodate President Putin's visit to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Milan on Friday. Putin is also expected to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine before meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, on the sidelines of the ASEM summit.

es/mg (AP, AFP, Reuters)