Serbia nationalist – The funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic has served as a grim catalyst for Serbia’s deepening nationalist regression, as state backing replaces long-term efforts toward post-war reconciliation.
When the coffin of Ratko Mladic arrived at Belgrade airport. it was not merely the homecoming of a man convicted of genocide. crimes against humanity. and war crimes. It was a formal state affair. Flown in from The Hague on a government plane. the casket was draped in the Serbian flag and carried by six Serbian Army soldiers. For those who spent 30 years uncovering the truth of the Yugoslav wars. the scene—officiated by the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church—was not just a funeral; it was an unnerving reclamation of a man the state once promised to bring to justice.
The timing of this display was no accident. As President Aleksandar Vucic prepared for an early parliamentary election. the spectacle of nationalist fervor provided a convenient pivot to patriotic territory. The shift is stark. In 2006. when Slobodan Milosevic died in ICTY custody. the state refused him a funeral; his coffin arrived on a scheduled flight. relegated to the cargo hold behind suitcases and a baby stroller. Today, the reversal is absolute. By granting Mladic a state funeral in all but name. the establishment is holding its citizens hostage to the cult of a man the state itself has previously condemned as a monster.
This performance reached its most chilling register at the 180th “eternal derby” between Red Star and Partizan football clubs. The day before the funeral. rival supporter groups—the Delije and Grobari—observed a minute’s silence for the war criminal. In a choreographed display of menace. the Delije re-enacted Mladic’s 1995 entry into Srebrenica. raising a replica of a street sign in honor of Reuf Selmanagic Crni—a name chosen purely for its Bosniak origin—before unveiling a giant image of Mladic with the command: “Head for Potocari.”.
These groups are rarely spontaneous; they are mobilized to police rallies and suppress dissent. President Vucic. who has spoken openly of his own background in Red Star’s violent supporter culture. has effectively turned these ultras into an extension of the state. Meanwhile, the European Union continues to hedge. Despite warnings from officials like Serge Brammertz—who noted as early as 2016 that the region was trending in the wrong direction—European leaders maintain a strategic bargain with Vucic. favoring his perceived utility in the Kosovo dispute and industrial lithium reserves over the integrity of Serbia’s democratic institutions.
This bargain is now under immense pressure. Following the November 1. 2024. collapse of a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station. which killed 16 people and injured another. Vucic’s dominance has begun to fracture. A student-led movement has seized the political momentum, forcing an early election on October 25. Vucic. barred by term limits from the presidency. is now campaigning as the prospective prime minister for the Serbian Progressive Party.
Independent polling suggests the students hold a lead. though the electoral register contains at least 200. 000 questionable names. signaling a potential for systemic fraud. For the regime, this contest is existential. The nationalist networks displayed at the funeral—the hooligans. the Church. and the state-aligned media—are the tools Vucic may deploy to defend his power. As the country heads toward the October 25 vote. the question remains whether Europe will finally stop prioritizing the “dear Aleksandar” diplomacy and recognize that the democratic interests of the region lie not with the strongman. but with the generation trying to move beyond his shadows.
Serbia Ratko Mladic Aleksandar Vucic Balkans Srebrenica politics European Union journalism