Serbia Is ‘Most Vulnerable’ to Russian and Chinese Influence, Study Finds

Euro­pean media is report­ing that a new study has con­clud­ed Ser­bia is the East­ern Euro­pean coun­try most sus­cep­ti­ble to Russ­ian and Chi­nese influ­ence. Accord­ing to a EUob­serv­er report:

Novem­ber 23, 2021 A new study by Glob­sec Pol­i­cy Insti­tute, a Bratisla­va-based think-thank focused on inter­na­tion­al pol­i­tics and secu­ri­ty issues shows that Ser­bia is the most sus­cep­ti­ble to Russ­ian and Chi­nese influ­ence.  “The coun­tries that we assessed are from cen­tral, east­ern Europe and the west­ern Balka­ns region. Out of these, the Czech Repub­lic and Roma­nia are the most resilient. The most vul­ner­a­ble is Ser­bia”, said Domini­ka Haj­du, the head of Glob­sec’s Cen­tre for Democ­ra­cy & Resilience, and one of the authors of the study.

Read the rest here.

The Glob­sec Vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty Index 2021, pub­lished in Novem­ber 2021 and fund­ed by the US State Depart­ment, mea­sured vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty towards for­eign influ­ence in eight East­ern Euro­pean coun­tries. Accord­ing to the Glob­sec coun­try report on Ser­bia, with a score of 55, Ser­bia is by far the East­ern Euro­pean coun­try most vul­ner­a­ble to Russ­ian and Chi­nese influence:

Serbia’s sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges lie in the four of five dimes­nions ana­lyzed in the report. A para­mount issue con­cerns polit­i­cal com­pe­ti­tion, with the gov­ern­ing Ser­bian Pro­gres­sive Par­ty (SNS) rul­ing since 2012. The par­lia­ment has lacked a legit­i­mate oppo­si­tion since the 2020 elec­tion boy­cott. This devel­op­ment has endan­gered the country’s demo­c­ra­t­ic plu­ral­i­ty.  But the dynam­ic also engen­ders  reper­cus­sions on for­eign pol­i­cy, with the government’s pro-Krem­lin  and pro-Bei­jing ori­en­ta­tion going uncon­test­ed. The government’s for­eign pol­i­cy  ori­en­ta­tion is mir­rored in pub­lic  atti­tudes. Com­pared to oth­ers  in the region, Ser­bian soci­ety is  par­tic­u­lar­ly sym­pa­thet­ic towards  Rus­sia and Chi­na, antag­o­nis­tic to  NATO, and ambiva­lent about the  EU. The pub­lic administration’s numer­ous flaws, includ­ing per­va­sive cor­rup­tion, state cap­ture, and an infor­ma­tion space flood­ed by pro­pa­gan­da and dis­in­for­ma­tion, fur­ther impede the devel­op­ment of a more demo­c­ra­t­ic and resilient society.

Read the full coun­try report on Ser­bia here.