The Energy Factor of Russian Policy in Serbia in the Late 19th-Early 20th Centuries

The reconstruction of Russia-Serbia interstate relations in the 19th early 20th centuries and the role of Russia in the formation and development of Serbian statehood hold a special place in the works of Russian Slavic historians since these relations are part of the Eastern Question, which was key to European politics at that time. The clash of interests of great powers in the Balkans, which intensified by the beginning of the 20th century, affected the small states that had been formed after the Congress of Berlin of 1878 and were in their zone of influence, which tried to exert their own influence on this process and articulated their respective claims and demands. The study of the role of economic ties in this context and, along with it, as its integral part, the energy factor, which by the beginning of the 20th century had become one of the factors of the broad Russo-Austrian rivalry in the Balkans, its role in the implementation of the global political strategy of the St. Petersburg ruling circles in this region, opens a new layer of Russia-Serbia relations, which still requires detailed study.