Miroslav Lazanski


Miroslav Lazanski is the current ambassador of Serbia to the Russian Federation. Previous to his appointment, Lazanski was a Serbian journalist and military analyst. He wrote on political and military matters and was a correspondent and commentator for the Belgrade daily Politika. 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.

Early life

Lazanski was born in Karlovac to a Slovene father who got assigned to Karlovac as a Yugoslav People's Army officer and Serb mother. Lazanski completed primary school in the town of his birth. His paternal family is of Polish origin. His grandfather and uncle were killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp held by the Ustashe during World War II. During the war, his father, at the time a Royal Yugoslav Army officer, was held at Osnabrück as a prisoner of war. His father's best friend was Zoran Konstantinović. 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. 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.
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:

''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 as well as the First Chechen War, Libyan Civil War, and Crimea Crisis. 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.

Television

Lazanski was interviewed in Boris Malagurski's documentary film The Weight of Chains 2. He has guested RTS's Upitnik, Oko, Srbija na vezi, Tako stoji stvari, TV lica, B92's Kažiprst, RTRS's Terorizam, svijet u strahu!, RTV Pink's Jutarnji program, Dobro Jutro, Emisija Pravac, Teška reč, and HRT's Otvoreno. He is a frequent guest on TV Happy's popular show Ćirilica hosted by Milomir Marić. Lazanski is the host of Lazanski direktno on RTRS. 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. Lazanski became a member of the Board on Defense and Internal Affairs, as chosen by the National Assembly by 22 June 2016. He resigned from the assembly on 25 September 2019 after being appointed as Serbia's ambassador to Russia.

Personal life

Lazanski is related to former president of Republika Srpska Biljana Plavšić, his maternal grandmother and Plavšić's father being siblings.
He is married to a Serbian woman from Belgrade, and has a son.

Work

;Books
;Films