Towards the problem of Russia’s image abroad: the example of Serbia

Abstract

From the viewpoint of values as the basic element of politics, the author discusses the significance of public image for the development of individual views on political personalities, processes and events. In political perspective, the public image can be regarded as potential means of implementing the interests of a given subject of politics; hence the problem of Russia's insufficiently taking advantage of her invariably positive image in Serbia for the sake of pursuing her interests in that country. Serbia is a country where any mention of Russia or anything connected with Russia immediately evokes positive emotions; a stable positive image, however, is in itself no guarantee that Serbian general public or individual Serbs would opt for the “Russian way” in politics or economy. The answer to the question as to what steps Russia should undertake in order to prompt the citizens of Serbia to give practical support to the increase of Russian influence in their country lies, according to the author, within the fact that, on the one hand, Russia's image is largely determined by the priorities of her policy and her readiness to invest in the promotion of her own image, whereas on the other hand, one must take into account that Serbs are expecting first to see Russia attain victories on the internal, and above all on the economic front, and to witness the growing well-being of the Russian population: only in the latter case would the Russian standard of life be deemed attractive.