Slaviša Ristić

Slaviša Ristić (Serbian Cyrillic: Славиша Ристић; born 17 November 1961) is a Serbian politician. He is a prominent figure in the Kosovo Serb community and was for many years the president (i.e., mayor) of the municipality of Zubin Potok, a Serb community in Kosovo on the border with Central Serbia. From 2016 to 2020, he was a member of the National Assembly of Serbia.

Slaviša Ristić
Славиша Ристић
Mayor of Zubin Potok
In office
2002–2013
Personal details
Born (1961-11-17) 17 November 1961
Zubin Potok, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Political partyDemocratic Party
(1990–1992)
Democratic Party of Serbia
(1992–2016)
Fatherland
(2017-present)
Alma materUniversity of Priština

Ristić was a member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS) for most of his political career. He left the party in 2016 and has been the leader of the Otadžbina (Fatherland) movement since 2018.

Private career

Ristić was born in Zubin Potok, Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He has an economics degree from the University of Priština.[1]

Politician

Ristić joined the opposition Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) on its founding in 1990. After a split two years later, he became a founding member of the breakaway DSS. In the 1990s, he was known as one of the few Kosovo Serb politicians to oppose the policies of Slobodan Milošević's administration in the province.[2] He was vice-president of the executive committee of Zubin Potok from 1993 to 1996.[3]

In 2000, in the immediate aftermath of the Kosovo War, Ristić chaired of the municipal committee of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija in Zubin Potok.[4] In July 2000, he attended talks in Washington, D.C., as a representative of the council; the talks did not deal with the status of Kosovo but rather with ending the ongoing violence between Serb and Albanian communities and creating the conditions for the development of democratic institutions in the region.[5][6] He strongly opposed the introduction of customs checkpoints on Kosovo's border with Central Serbia in 2001.[7]

Mayor of Zubin Potok

Ristić became the mayor of Zubin Potok in February 2002.[8] The following year, he helped to organize rallies held by the Serb community in response to the Goraždevac murders.[9] In 2005, he took part in discussions between Kosovo Serb leaders and the government of Serbia concerning trade over the Kosovo administrative border.[10]

Ristić, like most other Kosovo Serb leaders, strongly opposes the secession of Kosovo from Serbia and the establishment of an independent Kosovo. In 2006, he was quoted as saying, "No one will force us to accept Priština's authority, which is hostile to Serb people. Serbs do not want a partition [of Kosovo], but if it comes to that, it will be the fault of the international community for succumbing to an ultimatum of independence by (Kosovo) Albanians."[11] During subsequent discussions between Serbs and Albanians in the province meditated by the United Nations, he said, "We want co-operation with the Albanian community but we cannot cooperate with the Kosovo government which is working purely for independence."[12]

In 2007, he remarked that a visit by United States president George W. Bush to Kosovo could only be interpreted as providing support for independence. He was quoted as saying, "The message that he would be sending by his visit would come as nothing new to us Serbs in Kosmet [Kosovo and Metohija], because the United States has already openly stated its position on Kosmet's status, which is support for independence. [...] I do not think that Bush's visit would provoke any particular reaction from the Serb community, because we have become used to this kind of behaviour from the United States."[13] Later in the year, Ristić was a delegate of Kosovo Serb community in discussions with representatives of the Contact Group.[14]

When the Kosovo government issued its unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008, Ristić repeated his previous opposition, saying, "We cannot allow the institutions of a nonexistent state to be imposed on us and to pay taxes to some independent Kosovo. That is impossible."[15]

Riots broke out at two different United Nations border crossings near Zubin Potok following the declaration of independence, resulting in the destruction of the checkpoints on the roads into Central Serbia. Ristić indicated that these acts were prompted by the Kosovo government's announcement that it would send its own officials to monitor the border, a development that was unacceptable to the Serb community in the area. He further said that his municipal forces had acted to prevent the riots from escalating (noting that no-one was injured), drew attention to the anger of Serbs over the declaration of independence, and urged international authorities not to support "the false state of Kosovo in its attempts to set up its authorities in the territory of our municipalities."[16]

Later in the year, Ristić led a protest against both the deployment of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and an effort to re-introduce cameras to the border crossings; he described the latter development as "the first step in re-establishing the customs zone."[17] He later became reconciled to the presence of EULEX in the area (after the terms of its mission were changed), although he suspended Zubin Potok's co-operation with the agency in July 2011, charging that it had become "a force of occupation."[18]

North Kosovo crisis

In 2011, the Kosovo Police crossed into the Serb-controlled municipalities of North Kosovo, without consulting either Serbia or Kosovo Force (KFOR)/EULEX, in an attempt to assert control over several administrative border crossings. This action precipitated what became known as the North Kosovo crisis. Ristić said that Kosovo Serbs would respond with peaceful methods of protest such as barricades and roadblocks,[19] though he added that it would be "impossible to control the situation" if the Kosovo government and the international entities used force to accomplish their goals.[20] He subsequently led the Zubin Potok community in a high-profile standoff against NATO over access to the checkpoints, during which Kosovo Serb protesters defied a deadline to remove their roadblocks.[21][22] Ristić said that his community would only permit KFOR and EULEX forces to cross the barricades "when they will confirm their neutrality ... and withdraw Kosovo customs officials from the two crossings."[23] During the course of the crisis, Ristić and other Kosovo Serb leaders met with Serbian president Boris Tadić in a bid to resolve the situation; their talks were unsuccessful.[24]

Ristić announced the removal of the barriers in February 2012, with the underlying issues still unresolved.[25] Later in the year, the governments of Serbia and Kosovo agreed to implement a system of integrated border management. Ristić and other Kosovo Serb leaders met with Tadić's successor Tomislav Nikolić and Serbian prime minister Ivica Dačić prior to the implementation of the new system. After the meeting, Ristić was quoted as saying, "If we receive some sort of guarantee that we will not pay customs at the borders to the sham state of Kosovo, that no one will force us to change our citizenships and personal documents, then we will certainly not create any problems [...] We do not plan to create problems anyhow, apart from exercising our right to pursue the peaceful protests because we cannot allow anyone to force Priština's will upon us."[26] He later led a further round of protests at the border crossing when these guarantees were not provided, though in December 2012 he acknowledged that there was insufficient popular turnout from the Serb community for the protests to continue.[27]

2013 Brussels Agreement

Ristić was critical of the absence of Kosovo Serb voices from the negotiations that ultimately led to the 2013 Brussels Agreement, which normalized relations between Serbia and Kosovo while leaving larger questions on the status of the territory unresolved.[28] In March 2013, he indicated that the Serb community in North Kosovo would form its own assembly if the Serbian government abandoned its claims to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo and Metohija.[29] He ultimately rejected the accord and led protests against its implementation.[30] He was quoted as saying, "It is not an agreement, it is a surrender; they have killed the state in these parts and betrayed Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija."[31][32]

Serbian political leaders such as Dačić and Aleksandar Vučić subsequently took part in discussions with Ristić and other Kosovo Serb leaders in a bid to win their support for the Brussels Agreement.[33] These talks were unsuccessful. Ristić also rejected the Serbian government's efforts to ensure the participation of Kosovo Serbs in the 2013 local elections in Kosovo that were sanctioned by the Priština government, describing this course of action as "collective suicide."[34]

The Serbian government dissolved the municipal assemblies of Zubin Potok and three other Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo in September 2013, thereby bringing Ristić's tenure as mayor to an end.[35] Despite Ristić's opposition, the community subsequently participated in the 2013 local elections held throughout Kosovo.

Politics at the republic level

Ristić appeared in the 120th position on a combined electoral list of the Democratic Party of Serbia and New Serbia in the 2008 Serbian parliamentary elections.[36] The list won thirty seats, and he was not subsequently included in the DSS's assembly delegation. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be assigned out of numerical order.[37] Ristić could have been selected to received a mandate notwithstanding his position on the list, but, in the event, he was not).

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Ristić received the eighth position on the DSS's electoral list for the 2014 parliamentary election.[38] The party did not, on this occasion, receive enough votes to cross the electoral threshold.

Parliamentarian

The DSS contested the 2016 parliamentary election in an alliance with Dveri. Ristić received the fourth position on their combined list and was elected when the list won thirteen mandates.[39] The election was won by the Serbian Progressive Party and its allies, and Ristić became an opposition member of the assembly.

Ristić resigned from the DSS in October 2016, against the backdrop of a serious split within the party. He condemned the DSS's new leadership for its decision to expel Sanda Rašković Ivić and accused it of accommodating itself to the Progressive Party's rule.[40] He subsequently joined the New Serbia–Movement for Serbia's Salvation parliamentary group under Rašković Ivić's leadership. Ristić supported Dveri leader Boško Obradović in the 2017 Serbian presidential election.[41]

Ristić is an extremely vocal critic of Serbian President Vučić and has accused the Progressive Party of using a "criminal" network to intimidate critics in the Serb communities of North Kosovo. In a 2017 interview with Vreme magazine, he blamed these elements for shots that were fired on his family home on election night in 2016 (no-one was injured in the attack). During the same interview, he argued that Serbia should continue to fight for its sovereignty in Kosovo, and was quoted as saying, "I do not advocate the division of Kosovo in a geographical sense, but an institutional division should be considered" to ensure Serbs in the territory have the same right as Albanians to choose their political destiny.[42]

Ristić became a member of the Fatherland movement (which represents Kosovo Serbs who oppose co-operation with the institutions and government of the Republic of Kosovo) on its formation in 2017.[43] In February 2018, he was chosen as the movement's leader.[44] In this capacity, he has been a vocal opponent of the Serb List's participation in the government of Kosovo.[45]

Ristić wrote a letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2018 that warned of the Serbian government's plans to sign a comprehensive agreement with the administration in Priština. Among other things, the letter accused Vučić of co-operating with Priština because of a "promise to the West" and included the statement, "The tragic fate of late Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić is a clear warning to [Vučić] about what happens to those who do not fulfill such a promise." This statement prompted disparate reactions. The Progressive Party accused Ristić of threatening the president, while Ristić's supporters decried this accusation as tabloid sensationalism and a diversionary tactic.[46][47]

During the 2016–20 assembly term, Ristić was a member of the committee on Kosovo and Metohija; a deputy member of the committee on the economy, regional development, trade, tourism, and energy; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with China and Russia.[48] Like several other opposition parties, the Fatherland movement began boycotting parliament in early 2019 and ultimately boycotted the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election.[49] Ristić's term in office ended on 3 August 2020.

References
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