Elena Gus’kova

Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

What waited from Russia on the Balkans in the beginning of 90th years?

By the end of 80th years in Yugoslavia the all-round crisis which has captured all of the party of a life – economy, a policy, culture, formation was observed. Attitudes between republics have worsened, crisis of collective leadership of the country was observed. The federation was threatened with disintegration. Crisis of all branches of authority, inability of a management of subjects of Federation to go on the compromise, carry of the centre of gravity of decision-making from the Center in republics, impossibility of allied bodies to overcome centrifugal tendencies, uncompromising and unpromising collision of two concepts of destiny of the country have opened a way of Slovenia and Croatia to branch. In these conditions Yugoslavia searched for support among the European states. Historical memory has started talking, and Yugoslavia with hope has addressed to Russia as it often happened in history. In the answer it has met cold misunderstanding, and also bewilderment of representatives of the Russian diplomacy in occasion of why Russia should радеть for Serbs and черногорцев. Constant this rate was up to 1996 though it is possible to track its some internal stages. The reasons of such constancy were the developed practice of mutual relations in power structures of Russia, concentration of all completeness of authority on foreign policy questions in hands of Minister for Foreign Affairs and, accordingly, its political orientation. Events of the beginning of 90th years, crisis in territory of Yugoslavia have arisen in the end of the long period of cooling of attitudes between the USSR and Yugoslavia and their partial stagnation. During this period the Balkan direction was on boondocks of foreign policy of Russia, on the one hand, as not demanded from Yugoslavia, and with another – as not priority for Moscow.