Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has caused reverberations in the world of Orthodox Christianity. While the church in Moscow has fully backed the Kremlin’s war, many priests in places such as Lithuania have found adherence to this belief an impossible task.

An interview with Gojko Božović, a Belgrade-based Serbian poet, literary critic and publisher. Interviewer: Nikodem Szczygłowski

NIKODEM SZCZYGŁOWSKI: It has been 30 years since the break-up of Yugoslavia. In an essay published in 2021 titled Yugoslavia. 30 Years, the Slovenian writer Drago Jančar compared the countries that once made up Yugoslavia to islands in an archipelago. The publishing house which you head is also called Arhipelag, which in English means archipelago. What is your mission and what kind of literature do you opt to publish?

GOJKO BOŽOVIĆ: The Arhipelag was founded in 2007. At that time the reality was very different from the one we live in today. It was before the global economic crisis, before the great wave of populism that swept the world and still has no intention of leaving it. At that time, there was much more democracy in Eastern European and Balkan states and societies, especially in Serbia.

Following the elections in April 2022, the new Slovenian government has displayed ambitions to make the country an active regional player and an intermediary between the Western Balkan states and Central Europe. However, the geopolitics of the wider region, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, may force it to face some uncomfortable trends.

In the Balkans July and August are always the peak tourist season, with flocks of North European vacationers coming here to enjoy the beauty of the Adriatic coast and the warm Mediterranean sun. Traditionally, their preferred destination is Croatia, with its stunning Dalmatian beaches, beautiful Istria, numerous islands and national parks. Neighbouring from the north Slovenia is less popular. It is more often used as a transit country for travellers who are en route to Croatia.

Interview with Pär Johansson, president of the Swedish charity Blåljus i Samverkan. Interviewer: Nikodem Szczygłowski.

For a whole week, large parts of Slovenia, mainly Carinthia (Koroška) and Styria (Štajerska) as well as the Gorenjska region, were (and partly still are) under water. The flood has already been hailed as the worst natural disaster in the country's history. Today's heroes are the firefighters, paramedics and police officers who have been working non-stop in the past week doing their best to save the lives of those threatened by the raging disaster. 

While Russia’s war in Ukraine has become a regular story in European and world media, its physical connections with the wider world have become severely restricted. Now reliant on railways and roads to transport both people and goods, the war-torn nation now dreams of a future in which airplanes will no longer bring destruction and death.

My last visit to Kyiv was on February 16th, 2022. It was the day that American intelligence determined to be the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities an initiative called “Reconciliation” was held on that day as well. It was meant to “strengthen the consolidation of the Ukrainian society, increase its resilience when faced with growing hybrid and propaganda threats as well as the psychological pressure that was being put on the Ukrainian society”, as stated by the president’s decree “On urgent means to consolidate the Ukrainian society”’ issued two days prior.

Interview with Miljenko Jergović, an award-winning writer based in Zagreb. Interviewer: Nikodem Szczygłowski.

Interview with Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv. Interviewer: Nikodem Szczygłowski.