Under force from the United States, the chief executive of the Serbian intelligence service resigned
Head of the key Serbian intelligence agency, safety and Information Agency, Aleksandar VulinHe resigned, explaining that "The United States and the EU are demanding his head as a condition for not imposing sanctions on Serbia". Definitely anti-Western and definitely pro-Russian Alexander Vulin was placed on the U.S. sanctions list on charges of corruption, drug trafficking and "facilitating Russia's hostile actions in the Balkans".
According to experts, the president of Serbia Alexandar Vučić he had to sacrifice his close ally solely under Western pressure, but bowing towards the United States does not mean Belgrade abandoning its existing policy towards the Russian Federation, but simply trying to avoid fresh Western sanctions.
The chief of the key Serbian intelligence service announced his resignation at the end of last week. "The US and the EU request my head as a condition for not imposing sanctions on Serbia. I do not want to be an excuse to usage coercion and force on Serbia and the Serbian world. My resignation will not change US and EU policies, but it will slow down fresh demands and blackmail," explained Alexander Vulin. And on Sunday evening, he explained on TV: “I decided to resign myself and then informed the president, who said he left the decision on my conscience.”
Alexander Vulin spent little than a year as manager of the safety and Information Agency (NSA). Before he headed the key intelligence service in December, he headed the Ministry of Defence and then the Ministry of the Interior. That is why it is rightly called "an influential figure from the president's immediate surroundings".
Alexander Vulin never hid that he was definitely anti-Western and definitely pro-Russian.
In fresh years, he has visited the Russian Federation repeatedly, where he met with the Secretary of the safety Council of the FR Nikolai Patrushev, and in May he attended the global safety Conference in Moscow, for which he was harshly criticized by the United States, the EU and Ukraine.
In the summer, Alexander Vulin was listed on the U.S. Sanction List. The U.S. accused him of corruption, participation in global crime and drug trafficking, and "facilitating Russia's malicious actions in the Balkans". The diplomatic sources of the Kommiersant in the region then called Alexander Vulin's blacklist "a clear signal from the West for the president of Serbia that it was time to get free of pro-Russian personnel in his surroundings."
In September, many Serbian media, citing "sources in the highest authorities of the country", reported that the resignation of Alexandar Vulin from the position of head of the NSA is "overjudged". However, the president of Serbia did not make specified a decision at the time, although he admitted that he "thought about it", but allegedly under media force he would not dismiss anyone.
Two months later, Alexandar Vučić accepted the resignation of the head of the NSA almost immediately after its announcement. Calling Alexander Vulin "my companion, with whom he spent quite a few time," the president admitted that "from the beginning of his appointment to this position was pressure." "Vulin was not an agent of Russia and I would not like to say who is an agent of another countries, mainly Western, and who is an errand boy for the United States," the Serbian president said.
The United States welcomed the resignation of Alexander Vulin as manager of the key intelligence service of Serbia. Commenting that Washington "does not deal with the personnel issues of the Serbian government", an American emissary in the Balkans, Gabriel EscobarHe said: "Mr Vulin has long been a destabilising figure in the region". A akin message was made by the American embassy in Belgrade.
Balkan experts are almost in agreement that the Serbian president was forced to sacrifice a close ally solely under Western pressure, but even so apparent adversaries towards the United States do not mean a major change in the policy of Aleksandara Vučic. “The president of Serbia had to replace Vulin, but he does not abandon his positions”, argues Serbian political scientist Sonja Biserko. I'll start her. Daniel Server, a Balkan expert from Johns Hopkins University in the United States: "Vulin's resignation does not mean a change in Serbia's policy to support Russia, is just an effort to avoid fresh Western sanctions by Belgrade".
In any event, Alexander Vučic's decision to get free of the head of key intelligence services, which is "an acute anti-Western and definitely pro-Russian", fits well into the Serbian President's policy of "sitting on 2 stools" erstwhile it sends signals alternately to the West and the East.
for: Kommersant.ru
photo: Alexander Vulin from the left (Wikipedia Commons)
