in december, four men hit iurii and grabbed his anti—warflag. posted this photo in front of a mural dedicated to the wagner group, the same once accused of recruiting. and this the flag that was on my shoulders, and one of those guys, i guess in those sneakers, one of the guys that attacked me. because ijust remembered his shoes. what is interesting is that iurii and maria say the people that attacked them were not russians, but locals. there is a battle for hearts and minds taking place on the streets of belgrade, with competing influences from within and without, and one seems to be winning. there is no doubt that russia has an increasing influence on serbian society. on its people and its politics. but where does it come from? is it legitimate interest? is it political interference? or is it, as some people suggest, something more nefarious, a form of infiltration? vlado stanic�*s devotion to russia and the man he calls tsar putin is absolute. in 2015, but devotion led him to join a war that was not his own. he refuses to talk about what he d