Pro-Russian Serbs Mourn Ukraine Rebel's Death

Serbian right-wingers have expressed grief and dismay over the killing of Ukraine's Russian-backed separatist leader, Alexander Zakharchenko, on August 31.

Local policemen investigate the scene of an explosion at the ‘Separ’ cafe in downtown Donetsk, Ukraine, 01 September 2018. According to reports, the chief of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, died in a local hospital following an explosion in the ‘Separ’ restaurant on 31 August in the pro-Russian rebels stronghold of Donetsk. Photo: EPA-EFE/ALEXANDER

ERMOCHENKO

Pro-Russian Serbian nationalists have mourned the killing on August 31 of the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine, Alexander Zakharchenko.

The ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, SRS, known for its staunch support of Russia and hostility to Ukraine, said in a press release that it called for an “international … impartial investigation into this crime, and condemned the operations of the pro-Nazi regime in Ukraine, instrumentalized by the Western powers”.

The SRS group in Serbia’s parliament acts as opposition bloc with 22 MPs, led by the convicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj.

Several members of the SRS, including Seselj’s own son, have been banned from entering Ukraine, due to their intended participation in a ceremony celebrating Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Serbian Radicals added in their press release that the party fully supported “the heroic struggle of the people of Donetsk for independence and respects their decision not to recognize the institutions of Ukraine”.

Zakharchenko was killed on August 31 in a bomb attack.

Russia’s foreign ministry has accused Ukraine of organising the killing, but the Ukrainian authorities have denied any involvement.

Another far-right movement in Serbia, the Serbian League, said in its press release that Zakharchenko “is a hero who will live forever.

“President Zakharchenko was a great and brave man and soldier, who lived and died for his people, friends and family. He respected and liked the Serbs as well,” the head of the movement, Aleksandar Djurdjev, said in the press release.

He called the murder “an act of terrorists”, and added that Zakharchenko’s murder had caused “shock and sorrow among the Serbian people”.

Another movement, Serbian Right, expressed its condolences to Zakharchenko’s family, as well to “all Russian people, especially to the citizens of Donbas”. It added: “Glory to the hero.”

Serbian media have recalled how the late separatist leader admired the Serbs.

“Serbs helped us and are helping us in the fight. Since the beginning of the war, many volunteers from Serbia came to us and some of them gained fame in our war,” he told Iskra website in 2016, the Serbian daily Vecernje novosti reported on September 1.

Relations between Serbia and Ukraine have been marred by the presence of a number of Serbian mercenaries and fighters among the ranks of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In July this year, however, the Serbian and Ukrainian presidents met in the Serbian capital, pledging to strengthen cooperation.

Meanwhile, on August 24, Serbian police arrested a pro-Russian Serbian nationalist and former fighter in Ukraine, Bratislav Zivkovic who is now facing an investigation for “organising participation in a war or armed conflict in a foreign country”.