Orthodox religious identity united Russia behind Serbia during the Yugoslav wars

Evidence

The Yugoslav wars also produced a virtually unanimous rallying of the Orthodox world behind Serbia. Russian nationalists, military officers, parliamentarians, and Orthodox Church leaders were outspoken in their support for Serbia, their disparaging of the Bosnian “Turks,” and their criticism of Western and NATO imperialism. Russian and Serbian nationalists worked together arousing opposition in both countries to the Western “new world order.” In considerable measure these sentiments were shared by the Russian populace, with over 60 percent of Muscovites, for instance, opposing NATO air strikes in the summer of 1995. Russian nationalist groups successfully recruited young Russians in several major cities to join “the cause of Slavic brotherhood.” Reportedly a thousand or more Russians, along with volunteers from Romania and Greece, enlisted in the Serbian forces to fight what they described as the “Catholic fascists” and “Islamic militants.” — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 782

Categorization

• SHARE: A thousand-plus Russians, Romanians, and Greeks volunteered to fight for Serbia against ‘Catholic fascists’ and ‘Islamic militants’ — a fact for anyone interested in post-Soviet paramilitarism.
• XREF: connects to: Christian nationalists collaborate with Russia because they reject America’s pluralist founding ideal — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 1064