The battle for Serbia's soul on walls of Belgrade

A visible pulse to the feelings on the street, the murals are everywhere in Belgrade in upmarket neighborhoods, on the side of the motorways, and stenciled onto concrete apartment blocks.

A rough - and highly contested - history of modern Serbia is written out in murals and slogans on the walls of its capital Belgrade.

Portraits of war lords, rock stars and poets along with odes to its "brother nation" Russia and claims to neighboring Kosovo are among the most common found across the city.

"Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" reads one with the red, blue, and white background of the Serbian flag, echoing recent unrest there after an armed standoff at a monastery near the border.

A visible pulse to the feelings on the street, the murals are everywhere in the capital - in upmarket neighborhoods, on the side of the motorways, and stenciled onto concrete apartment blocks.

"Walls become political - there has always been, to varying degrees, politics in graffiti," said Hana Suica, a researcher who is writing a book on the subject.

"But in recent years, after every major event, it has increased. You can see paintings of Putin, even Trump has his portrait in town. There was also a mural depicting fighters from the Wagner group and many Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine."

On the streets, graffiti goes up only to be defaced by political foes opposed to its message. Often it is later covered again in a never-ending fight with paint.

"It's a battlefield... a permanent war in which some come to desecrate the works, others come to repaint," said Suica.

Belgrade's oldest mural stands a few meters high in the heart of the city. It shows a student from behind, dressed in jeans with a red notebook under his arm.