Miroslav Lazanski

Miroslav Lazanski (Serbian: Мирослав Лазански; born 18 September 1950) is а Serbian journalist, military analyst, politician and a diplomat who is currently ambassador of Serbia to the Russian Federation. Previous to his appointment, Lazanski was a Member of parliament. He wrote on political and military matters and was a correspondent and commentator for the Belgrade daily Politika.[1] He was a member of the National Assembly of Serbia from 2016 to 2019 as member of the governing coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party.

Miroslav Lazanski
Assumed office
24 April 2016
Personal details
Born (1950-09-18) 18 September 1950
Karlovac, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Political partyNonpartisan
(SNS-nominated)
Alma materUniversity of Zagreb

Early life

Lazanski was born in Karlovac to a Slovene father who got assigned to Karlovac as a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officer and Serb mother. Lazanski completed primary school in the town of his birth. His paternal family is of Polish origin.[2] His grandfather and uncle were killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp held by the Ustashe during World War II.[3] During the war, his father, at the time a Royal Yugoslav Army officer, was held at Osnabrück as a prisoner of war.[3] His father's best friend was Zoran Konstantinović (1920–2007). His father's job took the family to Trebinje where Lazanski went to gymnasium. He had military service in Bitola in 1977, in the 41st infantry division of JNA.[2] Upon graduating he enrolled at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Law and graduated.

Journalist career

Vjesnik, Danas, and Start

Lazanski's first jobs in journalism were for the Vjesnik daily newspaper and the Danas and Start weekly news magazines in Zagreb.[4]

While he was writing for different Balkan publications, Lazanski's articles were also published in the Greek newspaper Kathimerini and the Japanese newspapers Diamond Weekly and Securitarian.

Speaking in September 2014 about his methods of access to military officials on both sides of the Cold War, Lazanski said:

I used the circumstances of the Cold War and the fact that SFR Yugoslavia was non-aligned, meaning that it was neither a part of NATO nor part of Warsaw Pact. Many of the interviews I scored in the Soviet Union came about because top Soviet military officials wouldn't communicate directly with the Western media, but they would talk to a Yugoslav journalist for a Yugoslav newspaper or magazine knowing full well that interview would later be carried by a Western publication. As far as the Western military brass went, getting them to talk for a Yugoslav media outlet was never an issue. They very much wanted to address the Yugoslav public as part of their overall PR effort.[5]

Politika

In February 1991 Lazanski took an offer from Politika to become their commentator and moved to Belgrade. He remained at the job until fall 1995.

He reported from the Yugoslav Wars (including the Ten-Day War, Croatian War, Bosnian War and Kosovo War) as well as the First Chechen War, Libyan Civil War, and Crimea Crisis.[6] He has authored several books.

Views

Regarding NATO exercises in the Baltic, Lazanski believes it to be part of an "anti-Russian hysteria" in the creation in the West, and that claims that Russia holds aggressive military plans for the Baltic, and at the same time NATO does not have these for Eastern Europe, is false.[7]

Television

Lazanski was interviewed in Boris Malagurski's documentary film The Weight of Chains 2 (2014).[8] He has guested RTS's Upitnik,[9] Oko,[10] Srbija na vezi,[11] Tako stoji stvari,[12] TV lica,[13] B92's Kažiprst,[14] RTRS's Terorizam, svijet u strahu!,[15] RTV Pink's Jutarnji program, Dobro Jutro, Emisija Pravac, Teška reč, and HRT's Otvoreno.[16] He is a frequent guest on TV Happy's popular show Ćirilica ("Cyrillic") hosted by Milomir Marić.[17] Lazanski is the host of Lazanski direktno on RTRS.[18] He has authored two documentary films, Rat za Kosovo and Komandosi, and fronted several more.

Politics

On 4 March 2016, it was confirmed that he was a member of the electoral list of ministers to the National Assembly of Serbia as member of a group of independents in the coalition led by Aleksandar Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party.[19] Lazanski became a member of the Board on Defense and Internal Affairs, as chosen by the National Assembly by 22 June 2016.[20] He resigned from the assembly on 25 September 2019 after being appointed as Serbia's ambassador to Russia.[21][22]

Personal life

Lazanski is related to former president of Republika Srpska Biljana Plavšić, his maternal grandmother and Plavšić's father being siblings (Lazanski's mother and Plavšić are cousins).[23]

He is married to a Serbian woman from Belgrade,[2] and has a son.

Honours
  •  Yugoslavia: Medal for Military Merits (1977)
  •  Republika Srpska: Order of Honor (2018)[24]

Work
Books
  • Jutarnja patrola [Morning Patrol] (1999)
  • Uvek postoji sutra [There is Always Tomorrow] (2000)
  • Bin Laden protiv Amerike [Bin Laden Against America] (2001)
  • Istina o Srpskoj [Truth about Srpska] (2001)
  • Komandosi [Commandos] (2002)
  • Borbeni avioni [Fighter Planes] (2002)
  • Hitler je pobedio [Hitler Won] (2003)
  • Vreme izdaje [Time of Betrayal] (2008)
Films
  • Jugoslovenska narodna armija [Yugoslav People's Army], documentary
  • Rat za Kosmet/Rat za Kosovo [War for Kosovo], documentary
  • Komandosi [Commandos], documentary
  • Titova soba tajni [Tito's Secret Room] (2014), documentary, director[25]
  • Dnevnik iz Sirije [Diary from Syria] (2015), documentary[26]

References
  1. "II. Country Assessments". State.gov. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  2. Ona magazin.
  3. "Događanje Jasenovca".
  4. "Miroslav Lazanski". istinomer.rs.
  5. Ćirilica;Happy TV, 1 September 2014
  6. Crimea Report on Politika Newspaper website
  7. "Lazanski: Baltičke zemlje su samo komarac za Rusiju". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 2017-12-13.
  8. The Weight of Chains 2 (2014) at IMDb
  9. "Upitnik: Ukrajina: novi hladni rat?". RTS.
  10. "Lazanski: Sirija, Alepo, Asad". RTS.
  11. "Srbija na vezi: Miroslav Lazanski". RTS.
  12. "Tako stoje stvari - Intervju - Miroslav Lazanski - 11.02.2016". Youtube: RTS Tako stoje stvari.
  13. "TV lica: Miroslav Lazanski". RTS.
  14. "Kažiprst: Miroslav Lazanski". B92. 16 December 2016.
  15. ""Terorizam-svijet u strahu", sagovornici RTRS o terorizmu danas (VIDEO)". RTRS.
  16. "Otvoreno: Buka oko naoružavanja - samo medijska psihoza?". HRT.
  17. TV Happy, Emisija "Ćirilica", 2014; 16.02.2015; 27.04.2015; 08.06.2015; 24.08.2015; 01.09.2015; 12.10.2015; 25.01.2016; 28.03.2016; 27.06.2016; 10.10.2016; 23.01.2017; 07.03.2017
  18. Lazanski, Miroslav (Host) (2016–2017). Lazanski direktno [Lazanski Directly] (TV show). Bosnia and Herzegovina: RTRS.
  19. "Miroslav Lazanski na listi SNS". B92.
  20. "Skupština: Ko je član kog odbora". B92.
  21. Current Legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 January 2020.
  22. "MP and journalist becomes Serbia's new ambassador to Russia", B92 (source: Tanjug), 11 April 2019, accessed 2 January 2020.
  23. "ЛАЗАНСКИ: Лепо сам јој рекао – тетка кад изгубиш власт, завршићеш у Хагу".
  24. "Dodik odlikovao Lazanskog Ordenom časti sa srebrnim zracima (FOTO)". РТРС (in Serbian).
  25. Titova soba tajni (2014) at IMDb
  26. "Dnevnik iz Sirije Miroslava Lazanskog". RTS.

Further reading
  • "Istina se plaća" (PDF). Ona magazin. 19 March 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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