A Political Shift in Serbia – Wishful Thinking?
Is Vučić’s defeat also a setback for Putin and a victory for the European Union? Statements by the election winners and reactions from Russia create doubts on this widespread assumption.
In the Serbian parliamentary elections on October 25, the students’ list “Studentska lista – Studenti pobeđuju” emerged victorious with around 53% of the vote, bringing the Vučić era to an end.[1] The politically heterogeneous student movement, which emerged in response to the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, which killed 16 people, had taken to the streets for domestic rather than foreign policy reasons. Large parts of the protest movement were already EU-sceptical at the time, and there were even cases in which people carrying EU flags were aggressively excluded from participating.
Immediately after the students’ list’s election victory, one could repeatedly hear that “Putin” had lost, suggesting that Vučić’s departure would bring about some kind of “turning point” in Serbian politics. This may have been based on the mistaken assumption that the Balkan country’s foreign and European policy depended on one person or his regime and would automatically change under a new government. In fact, statements by the election winners now cast considerable doubt on these expectations.
Recognition of Kosovo is out of the question, and the EU-sceptical position remains, although they want to hold a referendum on EU membership.[2] In an interview shortly after the election victory with the Russian propaganda outlet RT Balkan (which is blocked within the EU), Jovo Bakić, representative of the students’ list, said: “We respect Russia both as a great power and as our historically important partner and, in many cases, as a protector. That will not change.” In the interview, he also opposed sanctions and insisted that Serbia would not allow anyone from abroad (presumably referring to the EU in this context) to dictate its energy policy.[3] The RT interview was picked up by the notorious Russian state propagandist Vladimir Solovyov and shown to Russian audiences on his programme “Solovyov Live”. Vladan Kuzmanović, former dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Belgrade and candidate of the Students’ List, also spoke to RT Balkan.
UPDATE 27.10.2026: An earlier version of a Reuters article reported that the Students’ List would halt all arms deliveries to war zones, including indirect deliveries to Ukraine via intermediaries. Reuters has since corrected this passage.[4]
The explicitly pro-European alliance “European Serbia”, which supports EU membership and sanctions against Russia, did not run together with the students’ list and received only 0.3% of the vote.
The Kremlin-friendly oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, who recently called for nuclear weapons to be used against targets in Ukraine (with 72 hours’ advance warning), welcomed the students’ list’s election victory: He described it as a “historic verdict on the Vučić regime” and declared that the era of political hypocrisy and double-dealing was coming to an end. The movement included “genuine Serbian patriots and loyal friends of Russia”. He concluded with the words: “Congratulations on your victory, brothers! Kosovo is Serbia, Crimea is Russia!”[5] Whether this really means the end of the “double-dealing” in Serbian politics, or whether Malofeyev is also a victim of wishful thinking, remains to be seen.
Links
[1] Serbian Electoral Commission (RIK), October 26, 2026.
[2] Foreign Policy Forum.
https://fpf.hr/analysis/serbias-foreign-policy-and-national-security-in-the-students-list-programme/
[3] Kyiv Post, October 26, 2026.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/88219
[4] REUTERS, October 26, 2026. .
https://www.reuters.com/world/serbias-new-leaders-face-host-tough-challenges-2026-10-26/
[5] Konstantin Malofeyev, Telegram post, accessed on October 26, 2026.
Dietmar Pichler ist Chief Analyst und Redakteur bei INVED und verfügt über umfassende Expertise in den Bereichen Desinformation, Medienkompetenz und ausländische Einflussnahme. Er analysiert Desinformationskampagnen sowie propagandistische Einflussstrategien autoritärer Regime. Neben seiner Tätigkeit bei INVED ist er als freiberuflicher Medienkompetenztrainer, Berater für strategische Kommunikation und Desinformationsanalyst in Wien tätig. Er ist Vizepräsident der NGO „Vienna Goes Europe“ und Gründer der Initiative „Disinfo Resilience Network“, die sich der Vernetzung von Fachleuten zur Aufdeckung und Einordnung hybrider Bedrohungen widmet.