“Medvedev to visit Belgrade”

welcome home to the leader of the free world .... :-)

or: svetsko, a nase ...

first visit as president of the only superpower, therefore behave, clean the streets.

something we should do 365 days a year, but especially when civilized guests come ...

the good news: there comes a president where you don´t have to barricade away the population of belgrade, like when the occupiers/masters/friends of DS come to town ...

pretty new feeling for tadic.

Alban

Didn't Emperor Dusan also rule over Albania in the 14th Century? ;-)

@Frisco

I'm fed up with all those stupid bullyings related to NIS. Serbia will possess a considerable chunk of Russian gas pipes. So what does it mean? That Serbia possess a chunk of Russia?
...Though as a Serbophile I don't mind...
Besides, Russia is buying assets all over the world. Does it mean ... oh no, unlikely.

@Alban.
Albanians don't have an experience of governing any country. They themselves are usually governed.

Will Serbian journalist be forced to leave their shoes at the door before meeting Medvedev?
My advice: bring extra pencils to throw at Sarkozy when he visits.

With gifts of political, social, and military assistance, we welcome you!

I would be much happier if Mr. Medvedev would stay at home and get busy solving the zillion problems Russia has.
The same goes for President Tadic: instead of photo sessions and small talk with Medvedev and others, he should look at his own country first

Russia, get your hands of Moldova! That's ours, well it was at least according to some standards :-)
(Alban, 17 June 2009 13:09)

I admit, you are right. Albania should be all the way to Tokyo and Moldova is of course part of it.

The usual teasing aside ethno-genetically Albanians probably have a lot of common with Vlachs / Romanians. You did mean your posting either as an absurd joke or teasing or maybe "trolling" - but it's not a complete nonsense, like "Serbs should go back to Siberia" or "Albanians are Lezgs from Caucasus".

So OK, accepting it as 99% teasing, 1% truth.

But to what degree Russia is involved in Moldova at this moment I do not know and I have my doubts. If you recall, few weeks ago we did analyze who that "Voronin" is and to begin with, he is not Russian, but descendent of Antonescu-lakeys. The rest is a clinical case and I am not his doctor.

"Leader of the free world?

Russia is one of the most corrupt places on Asia or Europe.
(KOSOVARi, 17 June 2009 18:27)"

Let me guess...The Kosovo Albanians are the most democratic, multi-ethnic loving people in the world?

Russia, get your hands of Moldova! That's ours, well it was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghica_family at least according to some standards :-)

Medvedev's visit is long overdue and he is not czar as other suppose and Serbia is no colony with the exp of Kosmet which is a colony of NATO for now until it outlives its usefulness.

Leader of the free world?

Russia is one of the most corrupt places on Asia or Europe.

I would be much happier if Mr. Medvedev would stay at home and get busy solving the zillion problems Russia has.
The same goes for President Tadic: instead of photo sessions and small talk with Medvedev and others, he should look at his own country first
(Yuri Katelynikov, 17 June 2009 11:42)

Yuri, how do you know that Russia's and Serbia's problems are not the same? Perhaps they are solving them together.
You know the old saying. Two heads are better than one.

I wonder how long it's going to be for Obama to visit Kosovo or even Albanian itself.

Albanians are just jealous that Serbs have a genuine friend in Russia. Sure there is also business going on but like in all business family and friends are looked after first.

The usual teasing aside ethno-genetically Albanians probably have a lot of common with Vlachs / Romanians. You did mean your posting either as an absurd joke or teasing or maybe "trolling" - but it's not a complete nonsense, like "Serbs should go back to Siberia" or "Albanians are Lezgs from Caucasus".
--

Read the link, I was joking.

Wallachia and Moldova were ruled by an Albanian family for some 200 years that left a mark in arts, math and politics. Some say that the land is ours forever because our King ruled it once so...

But then so was Egypt and Turkey for a long time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6pr%C3%BCl%C3%BC_family

All Balkans have some Vlach in them, but I suppose Albanians and Romanians might be related in many ways. Kosova (Dardania) was the border with them.

Well, defending Serbia is an expensive issue for Russia. Last year, Serbia payed with its best company. However, the next batch is due and seems like that the owner (or better his assistant since Putin remains in Russia) wants to collect this personally. But this is the right of the Czar over his colony.

@ Russia, if the offer from Moscow was so good why the Serbian government didn't allow and open and clear tender from all sides? If it would have been an open bidding with the Russian offer as the best one, I'm sure that Moscow would have received it. However, the Russians didnt want an open tender and ordered Belgrad to offer it only to them. When we reflect the small amount which was granted then we recognize why. Belgrad scrapped their best company for a ridicilous price, with nothing in their hands now. They are not even owners. Just compare the exactly same situation with Bulgaria. They are also on the South Stream project, but the Bulgarians managed it cleverly to keep their their net AND, simultaneously, share the earnings, 50/50, whereas the Serbian counterparts have not even the guts to tell how much is really left for Serbia. Only that circumstance tells us that they got really stripped by Moscow.

However, the best is that Russians can go on as they wish. They already got want they want and can twist Serbia in every directions without the promise to do anything for the Kosovo issue, except for saying "No". And this "No" can switch very fast when the Serbian lapdog doesn't follow as requested. Just look over Belarussia and Ukraine. These "brother nations" once closest Allies are already experience what it means to be in the gas grip of Moscow. However, they still have the spine to oppose Moscow whereas Serbia paralysed with the Kosovo, and the Albanians and Americans raise their flags in Kosovo.

Summarized, this was the most stupidiest thing Serbia could possibly do, and no-one so far, not even the Serbian government, could deny that based on facts and numbers. Russian promises? Well, I remember when 2003 under Putin's rule withdrew from Kosovo. A "nice" gesture for a "true" friend. These troops you can find now in Abhkazia and SO. A great deal for Russian oligarchs indeed... but only for them. Let us see what Czar Putin wants now. Seems like that there is still enough industry to be raped and stripped by Russian oligarchs in Serbia.

Didn't Emperor Dusan also rule over Albania in the 14th Century? ;-)
---
He was the King of Serbs, Bulgars, Albanians and Greeks for a few years IIRC. That was my joke :-).

@Frisco. It’s a political issue. What would have happened if NIS had been sold to Austria, given Hungarian attitude towards Vojvodina? There was also economic aspect – NIS came in a package with South Stream. It’s not the least expensive project. For example, for Germany to build a Northern Stream pipeline is a very expensive project, so that they even decided to temporary postpone it during the crisis.

As for Belarus and Ukraine you just show that your are out of touch. Belarus is heavily financed by Russia, Ukraine also is strongly economically dependant. As a person working in a private sector and as a consumer I can tell you that their products, which aren’t always competitive, enjoy a favorable climate in the Russian market. And it’s just a drop in the ocean. As for our “quarrels” – they have different natures. In Belarus Lukashenko knows that he usually can get whatever he wants from Russia, and for this it’s just enough to declare that he “maybe will prefer EU” or something like that (you are just unaware of some games behind the scene). Russians react usually in two ways: either give him straight away want he wants or pause, trying to say “hey, we also can do this or that”, but as a rule Lukashenko wins... This milk conflict has been successfully resolved and the faces of both sides look quite happy. With all their shortcomings, such relationships remind me relations in a family – with small quarrels and a consistent support, based on the ties of blood – relationships which I wish Russia and Serbia will always have. Serbia will benefit as well from a free trade agreement between Russia and Serbia. I’ve read an interview of the representative of Serbian diaspora in Russia, who claimed that Serbian companies enjoy a very favourable climate in Russia, but unfortunately many didn’t use the opportunity.

With Ukraine the situation is different. Its government is openly anti-Russian, and all those gas wars had a sheer geopolitical nature with some Western powers involved. Ask an ordinary Ukrainian, do they imagine their life without Russia …. In my office alone work several Ukrainians and speaking about Russian problems they say “we”.

Concerning withdrawal. Russian presence was so small and insignificant that it could hardly be helpful, but at the same time Russia had to participate in anti-Serbian measures and occupation of Serbian land.
Our help has never been confined to the word “NO”. The fact that we didn’t start WWIII in 1999 still frustrates me, but in that situation there was a strong probability that Russia wouldn’t have won it …

Give up your silly attempts to destroy relations, which have started with Serbian enlighteners on the Russian land as soon as Russia was baptized, and which have been retained through the ages and will never be disrupted.

Frisco, don't pretend that I didn't answer your question. NIS purchase wasn't just another financial deal - it had political context and it had a complex of conditions. Besides payments for NIS shares, Gasprom paid for modernization (if I'm not wrong 500 mln $), it accepted all NIS debts, it invests in ecological compliance pogramme, it will finish gas storage Banatski dvor and some other conditions (I read it only once and don't remember everything). As I have said it was a complex deal. So calculate it first and compare with Bulgarian deal, and only then retell me propaganda of your Austro-Hungarian lobby, who would be happy to rein in oil-rich "Republic of Vojvodina". I don't know about how much Bulgaria had got from Russians, but it would be fair if you presented some figures and analysis of all conditions before engaging in bullying. And, if I'm not wrong, in the agreement it was stipulated that Serbia could buy those shares back at the same price.

As for Ukraine - its "independent government" has led them to bankruptcy, which is averted only with the help of Russian money. When you referred to your friends in Lvov, I understood the reason for your delusion. You see, post-Soviet territory is like the Balkans - you have to read a lot about its history to make any judgement. There has always been "two Ukraines", Western and Eastern one - catholic and orthodox correspondingly, with differrent political preferences. Livov is a bright example of its Western part.

And there is rather INTERdependence, than dependence between Russia and Ukraine. Even spare parts for some Russian weaponry are produced on the territory of Ukraine, Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed in Ukraine and Ukraine regularly blackmails Russia with it. It's not Russia, but Ukraine, who has stopped treating our relations as friendly, but Yuschenko won't destroy what is naturally connected and we will have better future with Ukraine. It's a fact that Western powers were engaged and interested in those conflicts, as they always do when they want to spread their sphere of influence.

Frisco, I've looked up the figures - Gasprom paid 400 mln. Euro for 51% of NIS assets and 550 mln. Euro of investments.

Lukoil paid 101 mln. USD for 58% of Bularian "Neftohim" and 408 mln. USD of investments.

Something wrong with your math...

wonder how long it's going to be for Obama to visit Kosovo or even Albanian itself.

Albanians are just jealous that Serbs have a genuine friend in Russia. Sure there is also business going on but like in all business family and friends are looked after first.
(Peggy, 18 June 2009 01:12)

How soon you forget that Mr. Bush visited Albania and while on visit he sealed the fate of Kosova Independence.
When was the last time a US President visited Serbia, and I am not talking Tito's Yugoslavia either.

@Little Russia, you didn't reply to my questions. What was the problem to make the NIS sale to an open tender. Where would have Serbia lose when they would have thrown their most valuable company to the open market and see how much the highest bidder is willing to pay? I don't see any negative side effects for Serbia by doing this, in the contrary. If the Russian would have been so good, it would have won the tender, or am I wrong with that assumption. Question is, why the Serbian government refused to do so. And when we reflect that then only coercing might have brought them there. The Russians simply didn't want an open tender because it would have exposed their insufficent offer which is compared to the real value a big joke, but on the costs of Serbian treasury what bottom line is the money of the small man. Who is going to get this benefit now? Right, Russian oligarchs with maybe some Serbian politicians, but not the people. Or why the government in Belgrad is still so reluctant in telling the real benefits, defined in numbers? What are the real earning for Serbia in this Russian project? This was also a point you didn't want to go in with.

You also didn't get my point regarding Ukraine and Belarus. It is not necessarily the fact that countries, companies and governments are working with Russia, but the fact what happens when you are heavily dependent on Moscow. The gas wars are only the most public ones, but we have a lot of fights which are less known, like the meat war with Poland which is in the very essence only a political war unleashed by Moscow to coerce a EU country to do their biddings (which doesnt work that well, btw.). The majority of countries try to diversify as good as they can and what does Serbia? They do quite the opposite, what is stupid. Ukraine was once a close Ally and now they are marked as "hostile to Russia", because they exercise their independence. This is pathetic. I can tell you that the Ukraines I know (most of them from Lwow and Kiew) are far from Moscow friendly, especially the last years. Well that is the cause of the things, which Moscow can't deal with. They expect from the former SU countries to follow them, but they don't. The case in Abkhazia and SO just shows this. Minsk is not even consdering to recognize those Georgian provinces what drives Moscow mad, because it shows that not even there they can push a country to recognize their Caucasian puppet states. Epic fail!

But back to the NIS deal. You also didn't answer me, why the Bulgarians got a far better offer. They have their own net and half of the earnings. Why the "brother nation" Serbia didn't get AT LEAST the same? Are the Bulgarians better than Serbs? No, the Bulgarians simply didn't allow them to be pulled like a puppet on a string. They made a good deal, ensuring that they still can control their life, with the perspective of good earnings and still being open to the West (well, they are in NATO and EU, very clever).

To frisco, what do expect the russians to do besides say "no" to kosovo independence when all the pro western Serbs won't do anything about it themselves but have useless meetings and go to American influenced courts and whine and cry about it. Maybe if the serbs do something more proactive about it Russia would actually help

"Leader of the free world?

Russia is one of the most corrupt places on Asia or Europe.
(KOSOVARi, 17 June 2009 18:27)"

Let me guess...The Kosovo Albanians are the most democratic, multi-ethnic loving people in the world?
(Princip, 17 June 2009 23:18)



That's right Princip, Albanians are freedom loving people with two democratic governments. In Prishtina and Tirana you can do whatever you want including protests(if necessary) but if you protest in Moscow you'll get yourself behind bars or worse you'll get killed because of breach of the communist constitution. Now that's a free world. Take a look at Russia's ally Iran what's happenening. Remember Gary Kasparov's experience with communist authorities.
I know you love Russia because of your brotherhood and all that but once all countries become EU member states there is no russian influence in United States of Europe. The only european contry that likes Russia is Serbia and that's understandable loud and clear.

Kosovo-USA, You see Bush was most unpopular president in the world. In every country thath he had visited he was welcomed by angry demonstrators, only in case of Albania that was exception. Not even his people liked him when he was president.

Russia, get your hands of Moldova! That's ours, well it was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghica_family at least according to some standards :-)

I would be much happier if Mr. Medvedev would stay at home and get busy solving the zillion problems Russia has.
The same goes for President Tadic: instead of photo sessions and small talk with Medvedev and others, he should look at his own country first

Leader of the free world?

Russia is one of the most corrupt places on Asia or Europe.

The usual teasing aside ethno-genetically Albanians probably have a lot of common with Vlachs / Romanians. You did mean your posting either as an absurd joke or teasing or maybe "trolling" - but it's not a complete nonsense, like "Serbs should go back to Siberia" or "Albanians are Lezgs from Caucasus".
--

Read the link, I was joking.

Wallachia and Moldova were ruled by an Albanian family for some 200 years that left a mark in arts, math and politics. Some say that the land is ours forever because our King ruled it once so...

But then so was Egypt and Turkey for a long time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6pr%C3%BCl%C3%BC_family

All Balkans have some Vlach in them, but I suppose Albanians and Romanians might be related in many ways. Kosova (Dardania) was the border with them.

Well, defending Serbia is an expensive issue for Russia. Last year, Serbia payed with its best company. However, the next batch is due and seems like that the owner (or better his assistant since Putin remains in Russia) wants to collect this personally. But this is the right of the Czar over his colony.

welcome home to the leader of the free world .... :-)

or: svetsko, a nase ...

first visit as president of the only superpower, therefore behave, clean the streets.

something we should do 365 days a year, but especially when civilized guests come ...

the good news: there comes a president where you don´t have to barricade away the population of belgrade, like when the occupiers/masters/friends of DS come to town ...

pretty new feeling for tadic.

Alban

Didn't Emperor Dusan also rule over Albania in the 14th Century? ;-)

Didn't Emperor Dusan also rule over Albania in the 14th Century? ;-)
---
He was the King of Serbs, Bulgars, Albanians and Greeks for a few years IIRC. That was my joke :-).

@ Russia, if the offer from Moscow was so good why the Serbian government didn't allow and open and clear tender from all sides? If it would have been an open bidding with the Russian offer as the best one, I'm sure that Moscow would have received it. However, the Russians didnt want an open tender and ordered Belgrad to offer it only to them. When we reflect the small amount which was granted then we recognize why. Belgrad scrapped their best company for a ridicilous price, with nothing in their hands now. They are not even owners. Just compare the exactly same situation with Bulgaria. They are also on the South Stream project, but the Bulgarians managed it cleverly to keep their their net AND, simultaneously, share the earnings, 50/50, whereas the Serbian counterparts have not even the guts to tell how much is really left for Serbia. Only that circumstance tells us that they got really stripped by Moscow.

However, the best is that Russians can go on as they wish. They already got want they want and can twist Serbia in every directions without the promise to do anything for the Kosovo issue, except for saying "No". And this "No" can switch very fast when the Serbian lapdog doesn't follow as requested. Just look over Belarussia and Ukraine. These "brother nations" once closest Allies are already experience what it means to be in the gas grip of Moscow. However, they still have the spine to oppose Moscow whereas Serbia paralysed with the Kosovo, and the Albanians and Americans raise their flags in Kosovo.

Summarized, this was the most stupidiest thing Serbia could possibly do, and no-one so far, not even the Serbian government, could deny that based on facts and numbers. Russian promises? Well, I remember when 2003 under Putin's rule withdrew from Kosovo. A "nice" gesture for a "true" friend. These troops you can find now in Abhkazia and SO. A great deal for Russian oligarchs indeed... but only for them. Let us see what Czar Putin wants now. Seems like that there is still enough industry to be raped and stripped by Russian oligarchs in Serbia.

Russia, get your hands of Moldova! That's ours, well it was at least according to some standards :-)
(Alban, 17 June 2009 13:09)

I admit, you are right. Albania should be all the way to Tokyo and Moldova is of course part of it.

The usual teasing aside ethno-genetically Albanians probably have a lot of common with Vlachs / Romanians. You did mean your posting either as an absurd joke or teasing or maybe "trolling" - but it's not a complete nonsense, like "Serbs should go back to Siberia" or "Albanians are Lezgs from Caucasus".

So OK, accepting it as 99% teasing, 1% truth.

But to what degree Russia is involved in Moldova at this moment I do not know and I have my doubts. If you recall, few weeks ago we did analyze who that "Voronin" is and to begin with, he is not Russian, but descendent of Antonescu-lakeys. The rest is a clinical case and I am not his doctor.

@Frisco

I'm fed up with all those stupid bullyings related to NIS. Serbia will possess a considerable chunk of Russian gas pipes. So what does it mean? That Serbia possess a chunk of Russia?
...Though as a Serbophile I don't mind...
Besides, Russia is buying assets all over the world. Does it mean ... oh no, unlikely.

@Alban.
Albanians don't have an experience of governing any country. They themselves are usually governed.

"Leader of the free world?

Russia is one of the most corrupt places on Asia or Europe.
(KOSOVARi, 17 June 2009 18:27)"

Let me guess...The Kosovo Albanians are the most democratic, multi-ethnic loving people in the world?

I would be much happier if Mr. Medvedev would stay at home and get busy solving the zillion problems Russia has.
The same goes for President Tadic: instead of photo sessions and small talk with Medvedev and others, he should look at his own country first
(Yuri Katelynikov, 17 June 2009 11:42)

Yuri, how do you know that Russia's and Serbia's problems are not the same? Perhaps they are solving them together.
You know the old saying. Two heads are better than one.

I wonder how long it's going to be for Obama to visit Kosovo or even Albanian itself.

Albanians are just jealous that Serbs have a genuine friend in Russia. Sure there is also business going on but like in all business family and friends are looked after first.

wonder how long it's going to be for Obama to visit Kosovo or even Albanian itself.

Albanians are just jealous that Serbs have a genuine friend in Russia. Sure there is also business going on but like in all business family and friends are looked after first.
(Peggy, 18 June 2009 01:12)

How soon you forget that Mr. Bush visited Albania and while on visit he sealed the fate of Kosova Independence.
When was the last time a US President visited Serbia, and I am not talking Tito's Yugoslavia either.

@Little Russia, you didn't reply to my questions. What was the problem to make the NIS sale to an open tender. Where would have Serbia lose when they would have thrown their most valuable company to the open market and see how much the highest bidder is willing to pay? I don't see any negative side effects for Serbia by doing this, in the contrary. If the Russian would have been so good, it would have won the tender, or am I wrong with that assumption. Question is, why the Serbian government refused to do so. And when we reflect that then only coercing might have brought them there. The Russians simply didn't want an open tender because it would have exposed their insufficent offer which is compared to the real value a big joke, but on the costs of Serbian treasury what bottom line is the money of the small man. Who is going to get this benefit now? Right, Russian oligarchs with maybe some Serbian politicians, but not the people. Or why the government in Belgrad is still so reluctant in telling the real benefits, defined in numbers? What are the real earning for Serbia in this Russian project? This was also a point you didn't want to go in with.

You also didn't get my point regarding Ukraine and Belarus. It is not necessarily the fact that countries, companies and governments are working with Russia, but the fact what happens when you are heavily dependent on Moscow. The gas wars are only the most public ones, but we have a lot of fights which are less known, like the meat war with Poland which is in the very essence only a political war unleashed by Moscow to coerce a EU country to do their biddings (which doesnt work that well, btw.). The majority of countries try to diversify as good as they can and what does Serbia? They do quite the opposite, what is stupid. Ukraine was once a close Ally and now they are marked as "hostile to Russia", because they exercise their independence. This is pathetic. I can tell you that the Ukraines I know (most of them from Lwow and Kiew) are far from Moscow friendly, especially the last years. Well that is the cause of the things, which Moscow can't deal with. They expect from the former SU countries to follow them, but they don't. The case in Abkhazia and SO just shows this. Minsk is not even consdering to recognize those Georgian provinces what drives Moscow mad, because it shows that not even there they can push a country to recognize their Caucasian puppet states. Epic fail!

But back to the NIS deal. You also didn't answer me, why the Bulgarians got a far better offer. They have their own net and half of the earnings. Why the "brother nation" Serbia didn't get AT LEAST the same? Are the Bulgarians better than Serbs? No, the Bulgarians simply didn't allow them to be pulled like a puppet on a string. They made a good deal, ensuring that they still can control their life, with the perspective of good earnings and still being open to the West (well, they are in NATO and EU, very clever).

Will Serbian journalist be forced to leave their shoes at the door before meeting Medvedev?
My advice: bring extra pencils to throw at Sarkozy when he visits.

Medvedev's visit is long overdue and he is not czar as other suppose and Serbia is no colony with the exp of Kosmet which is a colony of NATO for now until it outlives its usefulness.

With gifts of political, social, and military assistance, we welcome you!

@Frisco. It’s a political issue. What would have happened if NIS had been sold to Austria, given Hungarian attitude towards Vojvodina? There was also economic aspect – NIS came in a package with South Stream. It’s not the least expensive project. For example, for Germany to build a Northern Stream pipeline is a very expensive project, so that they even decided to temporary postpone it during the crisis.

As for Belarus and Ukraine you just show that your are out of touch. Belarus is heavily financed by Russia, Ukraine also is strongly economically dependant. As a person working in a private sector and as a consumer I can tell you that their products, which aren’t always competitive, enjoy a favorable climate in the Russian market. And it’s just a drop in the ocean. As for our “quarrels” – they have different natures. In Belarus Lukashenko knows that he usually can get whatever he wants from Russia, and for this it’s just enough to declare that he “maybe will prefer EU” or something like that (you are just unaware of some games behind the scene). Russians react usually in two ways: either give him straight away want he wants or pause, trying to say “hey, we also can do this or that”, but as a rule Lukashenko wins... This milk conflict has been successfully resolved and the faces of both sides look quite happy. With all their shortcomings, such relationships remind me relations in a family – with small quarrels and a consistent support, based on the ties of blood – relationships which I wish Russia and Serbia will always have. Serbia will benefit as well from a free trade agreement between Russia and Serbia. I’ve read an interview of the representative of Serbian diaspora in Russia, who claimed that Serbian companies enjoy a very favourable climate in Russia, but unfortunately many didn’t use the opportunity.

With Ukraine the situation is different. Its government is openly anti-Russian, and all those gas wars had a sheer geopolitical nature with some Western powers involved. Ask an ordinary Ukrainian, do they imagine their life without Russia …. In my office alone work several Ukrainians and speaking about Russian problems they say “we”.

Concerning withdrawal. Russian presence was so small and insignificant that it could hardly be helpful, but at the same time Russia had to participate in anti-Serbian measures and occupation of Serbian land.
Our help has never been confined to the word “NO”. The fact that we didn’t start WWIII in 1999 still frustrates me, but in that situation there was a strong probability that Russia wouldn’t have won it …

Give up your silly attempts to destroy relations, which have started with Serbian enlighteners on the Russian land as soon as Russia was baptized, and which have been retained through the ages and will never be disrupted.

Frisco, don't pretend that I didn't answer your question. NIS purchase wasn't just another financial deal - it had political context and it had a complex of conditions. Besides payments for NIS shares, Gasprom paid for modernization (if I'm not wrong 500 mln $), it accepted all NIS debts, it invests in ecological compliance pogramme, it will finish gas storage Banatski dvor and some other conditions (I read it only once and don't remember everything). As I have said it was a complex deal. So calculate it first and compare with Bulgarian deal, and only then retell me propaganda of your Austro-Hungarian lobby, who would be happy to rein in oil-rich "Republic of Vojvodina". I don't know about how much Bulgaria had got from Russians, but it would be fair if you presented some figures and analysis of all conditions before engaging in bullying. And, if I'm not wrong, in the agreement it was stipulated that Serbia could buy those shares back at the same price.

As for Ukraine - its "independent government" has led them to bankruptcy, which is averted only with the help of Russian money. When you referred to your friends in Lvov, I understood the reason for your delusion. You see, post-Soviet territory is like the Balkans - you have to read a lot about its history to make any judgement. There has always been "two Ukraines", Western and Eastern one - catholic and orthodox correspondingly, with differrent political preferences. Livov is a bright example of its Western part.

And there is rather INTERdependence, than dependence between Russia and Ukraine. Even spare parts for some Russian weaponry are produced on the territory of Ukraine, Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed in Ukraine and Ukraine regularly blackmails Russia with it. It's not Russia, but Ukraine, who has stopped treating our relations as friendly, but Yuschenko won't destroy what is naturally connected and we will have better future with Ukraine. It's a fact that Western powers were engaged and interested in those conflicts, as they always do when they want to spread their sphere of influence.

Frisco, I've looked up the figures - Gasprom paid 400 mln. Euro for 51% of NIS assets and 550 mln. Euro of investments.

Lukoil paid 101 mln. USD for 58% of Bularian "Neftohim" and 408 mln. USD of investments.

Something wrong with your math...

To frisco, what do expect the russians to do besides say "no" to kosovo independence when all the pro western Serbs won't do anything about it themselves but have useless meetings and go to American influenced courts and whine and cry about it. Maybe if the serbs do something more proactive about it Russia would actually help

"Leader of the free world?

Russia is one of the most corrupt places on Asia or Europe.
(KOSOVARi, 17 June 2009 18:27)"

Let me guess...The Kosovo Albanians are the most democratic, multi-ethnic loving people in the world?
(Princip, 17 June 2009 23:18)



That's right Princip, Albanians are freedom loving people with two democratic governments. In Prishtina and Tirana you can do whatever you want including protests(if necessary) but if you protest in Moscow you'll get yourself behind bars or worse you'll get killed because of breach of the communist constitution. Now that's a free world. Take a look at Russia's ally Iran what's happenening. Remember Gary Kasparov's experience with communist authorities.
I know you love Russia because of your brotherhood and all that but once all countries become EU member states there is no russian influence in United States of Europe. The only european contry that likes Russia is Serbia and that's understandable loud and clear.

Kosovo-USA, You see Bush was most unpopular president in the world. In every country thath he had visited he was welcomed by angry demonstrators, only in case of Albania that was exception. Not even his people liked him when he was president.