[APPLAUSE] >> Why are these fans of
a Lithuanian basketball team showing
discussed at their Serbian opponents?
It may have to do with what occurred at the games onset.
The Lithuanian team held up the Ukraine flag with the words stop war.
Their opponents Serbian basketball team,
Crvena Zvezda chose to not participate, refusing to hold the banner.
>> Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes, glory to Ukraine.
>> And thus the chance kept coming from supporters of Lithuanian team Zalgiris.
Fans continued expressing their displeasure throughout the game because
of Zvezda's intentional gesture to diss Ukraine, and in turn,
it appears Lithuania.
>> The rest of Europe is anxiously anticipating Vladimir Putin's next move,
especially true for Lithuania, which shares a border not only with Russia, but
with the Putin Ally, Belarus as well.
Despite the country's precarious geographic position, however,
the Lithuanian government took a historic step over the weekend,
becoming the first European union member to fully cut ties with Russian gas.
>> So with that being stated.
[APPLAUSE] >> Looking ahead to five more years in
power, Serbian president Alexander Vucic hailed his win as a historic victory.
But looming over the entire affair was the shadow of the war in Ukraine.
Serbia has long been a traditional ally of Russia, but it also wants good
relations with the West as the aspires to membership of the European Union.
Serbia joined a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion, but so
far it's refused to impose any sanctions.
>> Coupled with Vucic's win in Serbia with basically at this point Hungary's
dictator, Viktor Orban.
Russian President Vladimir Putin joyously celebrated the two victories,
essentially cementing Russia's influence in partnership with the two European
countries.
[SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] And yes,
that is Orban and Vucic waving to no one.
In the elections for both countries, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, which monitored both elections, said the votes were shaped
by an uneven playing field that gave undue advantages to the ruling parties.
>> They pointed out the opposition was barely able to get on state media.
There is a real overlap between the Hungarian state and
Viktor Orban's ruling party and
there was a real lack of transparency in terms of how the votes were counted.
>> That's because, as NPR put it, in his 12 years in power, Orban has often clashed
with the EU over what critics have called his increasingly undemocratic tendencies,
such as gaining influence over a majority of Hungary's legacy media and
cracking down on the country's LGBTQ population.
>> Well, here in Budapest, which is a pretty liberal city,
there is a real sense of despair among many voters that Hungary's authoritarian
leader has not only won a fouth term, but he's won big.
He has a two thirds majority in the parliament and
that means he can continue to change the constitution.
On the international stage one of the first people to congratulate
Viktor Orban rather, was Vladimir Putin.
Putin historically has had a closer relationship
with Orban than when any other leader in NATO.
Someone who is not a fan of Orban, is Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine.
>> In Serbia, the love for Putin remains.
Here's a mural Sergei Ponomarev of the New York times took in Belgrade for context.
Since Mr Vucic won the presidency in 2017,
the quality of Serbian democracy has fallen from free to only partly free.
According to Freedom House, an independent Washington based rights research group
that makes an annual assessment of each country's political freedoms.
Rights observers regularly expressed concern over the influence Mr Vucic wields
over the judiciary, the electoral process and both state and private media.
Much of the pro-Russian sentiments among Serbs comes from their hatred of NATO.
The Western military alliance bombed the country in 99 to stop
a bloody Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian seeking independence for
Kosovo, a Serbian province at the time.
In addition, the support of Serbia and Russia is noteworthy.
The Associated Press reported there were thousands of Serbs who turned out for
pro-Putin rallies, waving Russian flags and displaying the letter Z,
a symbol seen on Russian military vehicles in Ukraine.
The support from Moscow makes Serbia somewhat of an outlier in Europe.
So you see, the basketball game between Zvezda and
Zalgris was a backdrop to the current situation at hand in both countries.
As always, sports is the microcosm of society.