"It smells of kerosene". Danube shipping company and russian policy in the Balkans at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries

The article, based on the documents of the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, reveals the plans of the Russian Empire for economic penetration into the markets of Serbia and other Balkan countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A special place in the economic strategy of the St. Petersburg ruling circles in relation to the Balkan region was played by the activities of the Russian Danube shipping company, which was assigned not only a commercial, but also a political role, as one of the important factors in strengthening Russian influence in the Balkan countries, primarily in Serbia. In addition, the development of navigation along the Danube in the late XIX - early XX centuries. allowed the Russian Empire to gain a foothold in the oil markets of both the Balkan countries and Austria-Hungary and Germany. In 1914-1915.namely on the ships and barges of the Russian Danube Shipping Company, a special-purpose expedition headed by M.M. Veselkin, military cargo was transported for Serbia, which was an important factor in Russian-Serbian military cooperation during the First World War.

Black Sea-Danube Shipping Company, Danube, Serbia, Yu.E. Gagarin-Sturdza, Alexander Obrenovich, N.V. Charykov, A.I. Persiani, S.Yu. Witte