Milošević and Tuđman's secret deal over Krajina

Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Tuđman’s secret deal over Krajina is a portrait of wartime enmity subordinated to political calculation. Though cast as one another’s enemies, the two leaders prepare to abandon Krajina to the Croats in return for Serbian territories in Bosnia and an end to the embargo. Their collusion makes the apparent battle lines less reliable than the negotiations behind them.

The Bargain Behind the Front Lines

The deal emerges during Eduard’s journey from Belgrade toward the front, when the radio reports a coup of sorts in the Republic of Serbian Krajina. The defense minister to whom Arkan had recommended Eduard has been imprisoned; soon, fresh posters showing Arkan with a price on his head appear on tree trunks. These developments suggest that the political ground is shifting, even as the road itself passes through villages divided by front lines and changing national allegiances.

The account presents the upheaval as part of Milošević’s preparations for negotiations. In collusion with his “best enemy,” Tuđman, he is preparing to trade Krajina for Serbian territories in Bosnia and an end to the embargo. The bargain is described as a planned exchange, not as a completed settlement: its significance lies in the leaders’ willingness to redraw the stakes of the conflict through negotiation while people at the front remain exposed to its violence.

Enemies as Political Partners

The relationship is defined by the contrast between public hostility and strategic cooperation. Calling Tuđman Milošević’s “best enemy” captures the paradox: antagonism does not prevent them from colluding when a territorial and diplomatic exchange serves their purposes. The arrangement is less a reconciliation than a maneuver, with Krajina treated as something that can be relinquished to obtain gains elsewhere and relief from the embargo.

The impending negotiations also alter the value of other actors. In this new phase, Arkan, a hard-line figure, becomes a nuisance who must be eliminated. The danger surrounding him is made visible in the coup report, the imprisonment of the minister who had recommended Eduard, and the posters bearing a price on Arkan’s head. The narrative does not establish that every development is a direct consequence of the bargain; instead, it places them together as signs of a political reshuffle that leaves Arkan increasingly vulnerable.

Uncertain Consequences

The deal’s effects reach Eduard through the unstable chain of authority it creates. Although the circumstances seem to point toward a trap for Arkan’s returning militiamen, the journey does not end in the expected confrontation. Eduard is left alone in town to present himself to the authorities, passed from one office to another, and eventually sent to an Austro-Hungarian garrison. The narrative’s abrupt, inconclusive movement reflects the uncertainty surrounding the bargain: decisions made at the level of leaders unsettle the front, but their consequences arrive through delays, confused authority, and risks that are difficult to predict.

By setting the proposed exchange beside the shifting allegiances on the road, the episode shows how the conflict’s visible divisions coexist with deals between supposed enemies. Krajina is not only a battlefield in this account; it is also a negotiating asset. The contrast between high-level calculation and the exposed, bewildered people caught within its changing arrangements gives the relationship its decisive significance.