Did Slobodan Milosevic say: “The West is a chained mad dog”?

A fragment of the “last interview” of the former president of Yugoslavia is popular on the Internet, in which he calls on “Russians” to remember the events in the Balkans and beware of the West. We checked the reliability of this attribution.

On March 2, 2014, in the episode of the program “News of the Week with Dmitry Kiselyov” on the channel “Russia 1” the presenter reasoned about the approaching anniversary of the bombing of Yugoslavia. Before showing a report from Belgrade, Kiselev offered “a fragment from the last interview of the last president of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic.” “True, there are also skeptics who believe that the words did not belong to Milosevic, but this does not even matter - their meaning is so clear and so precise that they can no longer be peeled off from Milosevic!” - the presenter said and read out the quote: “Russians! I am now addressing all Russians; residents of Ukraine and Belarus in the Balkans are also considered Russians. Look at us and remember - they will do the same to you when you become disunited and give in. The West - a chained mad dog - will grab your throat. Brothers, remember the fate of Yugoslavia! Don't let them do the same to you! Why do you need Europe, Russians? It is difficult to find a more self-sufficient people than you. It is Europe that needs you, but not you that needs it. There are so many of you - three whole countries, but there is no unity! You have everything of your own: a lot of land, energy, fuel, water, science, industry, culture. When we had Yugoslavia and we were united, we felt like a great force, capable of moving mountains. Now, because of our stupidity, nationalism, and unwillingness to listen to each other, Yugoslavia no longer exists. And we are pimples on the political map of Europe, new markets for their expensive junk and American democracy.”

In the summer of the same year, a scandal erupted around the Moscow cinema "Illusion", in the foyer of which posted a poster with a picture of Milosevic and this quote (however, the poster quickly removed).

The saying attributed to Milosevic is still popular today. It is published regularly different publics on VKontakte, users Facebook, Twitter, "Yandex.Zena" and other social networks, and the posts themselves often receive hundreds and thousands of likes and reposts. Milosevic’s quote is also quoted in abbreviated form on sites with collections of aphorisms, including City.info, City.net And "Pearls of Thought", as well as a number of media, for example "Express newspaper" And "Komsomolskaya Pravda". In 2017, the expression attributed to the politician used in her Facebook post, ex-prosecutor of Crimea and former State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya.

Slobodan Milosevic, who served as President of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000, is one of the controversial figures in the history of the late 20th century. This can be seen even in encyclopedic articles about politics. So, “Great Russian Encyclopedia” writes about his “attempts to prevent Kosovo’s secession from Serbia” and how he “in the face of systematic failures of negotiations by Kosovo Albanians and military operations launched by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army resorted to forceful methods of resolving the conflict.” In turn, in the Encyclopedia Britannica article it says about Milosevic's "Serbian nationalist policies that contributed to the collapse of the socialist Yugoslav federation", drawing Serbia into conflicts with other Balkan states, the fight against confederalism, repression of political opponents and the order of "ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians." 

Be that as it may, during the escalation of conflicts between the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, NATO carried out bombing of Yugoslavia, and already in June Milosevic concluded a peace agreement with the alliance and agreed to withdraw Serbian troops from Kosovo. The following year he lost the presidential election to Vojislav Kostunica, and in 2001 he was arrested by the Yugoslav government. He was transferred to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which charged Milosevic with crimes against humanity, organizing mass murders and the forced deportation of ethnic Albanians. The ex-president was taken into custody in a prison in The Hague, he refused a lawyer and conducted his own defense. Due to Milosevic's ongoing health problems, the case was constantly delayed. The verdict was never passed - the former head of Yugoslavia died in prison in 2006.

Neither we nor our colleagues from others publications could not find authoritative sources in Russian that would quote Milosevic about a “chained mad dog.” Although the situation in Yugoslavia in the late 1990s and the subsequent trial against Milosevic attracted the attention of foreign journalists, “appealing to the Russians” does not lead to any major foreign media. Moreover, it is not mentioned at all in Google search results when searching for keywords in English. In turn, the earliest search results available in Russian date back to the beginning of 2014, and the links lead to sources that can hardly be called reliable (among them, for example, the blogging platform Pikabu).

According to a social media search, the quote first became widely known in October 2012, 11 years after Milosevic's arrest and six years after his death. First entry in LiveJournal appeared October 7, in "VKontakte" — October 8, on Facebook - October 9. Subsequently, the text became popular in other social networks.

It was the first publication on VKontakte entitled “Greetings from the former Yugoslavia” that was especially widely distributed in those days, which was often cited as a source by users of this and other social networks who reposted it. Now the public page where the note is posted is called “Offensive of Novorossiya”, but previously the name was different: in May 2012 the group was called “Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: Slavs against Nazism, fascism and their accomplices Bandera from the OUN-UPA, we are for historical justice and the unity of our fraternal peoples”*, and no later than May 2013 changed title: “Russia, Ukraine, Belarus: Patriots against the OUN UPA”*. Other texts published in this group talk about non-existent things about ten times Dulles' plan, almost as often - oh "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

The text, which was widely circulated on social networks in October 2012, contains two important details. Firstly, only a third of the quotation that Dmitry Kiselyov read on the air of “Russia-1” and which was later placed on a poster in “Illusion” is attributed to Milosevic. The fragment beginning with the words “Why do you need Europe, Russians?”, according to the author, belongs to a certain Dragomir Miloslavich from Podgorica, and not at all to the ex-president of Yugoslavia. Secondly, the text that was circulated on VKontakte, LiveJournal and Facebook is signed - a certain Les Ivaniv is indicated as the author.

This first and last name appears in several sources in the Ukrainian language. For example, in 2007, in the newspaper “Narodnaya”, which was published by the People’s Party of Ukraine, came out article “Hero City, Martyr City: To the 64th Anniversary of the Liberation of Kyiv,” the author of which is Les Ivaniv. Judging by the data from the website work.ua, which is used to find work, this is the creative pseudonym of the Ukrainian journalist Alexander Voronin - himself reported this is in the announcement. An article authored by Voronin was published in Narodnaya along with an article authored by Les Ivaniv.

We found Voronin's Facebook page and sent him questions about whether he actually wrote the text "Greetings from the former Yugoslavia" and, if so, in what source he found the Milosevic quote. At the time of publication of this material, Voronin did not answer our questions.

Thus, the statement attributed to the former president of Yugoslavia became known only several years after his death. We were unable to find an interview during which Milosevic allegedly made a statement about a “rabid chain dog,” and outside the Russian-language segment of the Internet this phrase is cited in isolated and extremely dubious sources. Apparently, the statement was first attributed to Milosevic by Ukrainian journalist Alexander Voronin in his text, published under the pseudonym Les Ivaniv and which became popular in the fall of 2012. At the same time, sometimes people who give this quote mistakenly use a larger version, two-thirds of which belongs to an acquaintance of Voronin from Podgorica.

*"Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) introduced Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to the list of prohibited organizations.

Incorrect quote attribution

What do our verdicts mean?

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