US sanctions against Security Information Agency (BIA) chief Aleksandar Vulin have not seemed to greatly the feathers of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic or the government, with comments from both akin to a shrug of indifference and statements that the sanctions are all “politics.”
Vucic has previously stated that he endured such sanctions in the past and that they really “didn’t bother him,” and now Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic has added that the US government has sent no evidence to back up claims of ties to organized crime, and that he does not expect to receive any.
“[…] This is not a private affair, but a decision against a government official,” Dacic said, as quoted by the newspaper Politika. “This reason behind [the sanctions] is political.
Both Vucic and Dacic have claimed that Vulin was sanctioned due to Vulin’s opinions on Russia and the fact that Serbia has not joined in on sanctions against Russia. Dacic called the sanctions surprising, as Serbia is now closely cooperating with Serbia on organized crime, and that this cooperation is “good.”
Serbia is currently attempting to balance between a planned track to join the EU, traditional ties with Russia, past energy dependence on Russia, constant bickering with Kosovo and pressure from the EU and the US to normalize relations with Kosovo and finally the issue of sanctions on Russia against the background of the war in Ukraine.
Photo of Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs by il.ru, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
