A moment that could be a turning point in relations between Vucic and the US

State Department adviser Derek Chollet told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he believes that the New York Times’ reporting on President Vucic’s ties to the Veljko Belivuk clan is credible. He said that it would now be seen whether Serbia would continue to be a credible partner, but that “Washington’s eyes” were now open. Earlier, Vucic made it clear at Happy TV that he knew “where this text is coming from” and that the message was perfectly clear to him.

State Department adviser Derek Chollet spoke in Washington yesterday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on US policy towards the Western Balkans.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez asked Chollet about a “very incriminating” New York Times article on Vucic, in which it is stated about the connection of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić with hooligans and organized crime.

Chollet said that the administration considers the newspaper’s reporting “credible” but could not discuss the details of the article.

Mendez then asked Chollet whether Serbia could be considered a credible partner in light of the information disclosed.

“We have to test that. Our eyes are open, we call on President Vucic and his colleagues to be held accountable in terms of corruption and other activities,” Chollet replied.

The Senate committee was chaired by Bob Menendez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, who said that two thirds of the countries in the Western Balkans are in NATO and that the US should seize the moment to see what happens to the countries still influenced by Russia.

Menendez said that the war in Ukraine had once again shown the need to encourage the countries in the region to make the necessary reforms and stressed that a solution to the Serbia-Kosovo conflict is crucial for the whole of the Western Balkans, writes the Voice of America.

About Vucic’s (non)acceptance of the agreement with Prishtina

Bob Menendez, Democratic Senator from New Jersey, said that Belgrade and Pristina had agreed on a deal in February, after which the Serbian President said in a public address that he did not agree with the agreement because Serbia did not recognise Kosovo’s independence.

“Part of the matrix is that Vucic says one thing to appease Western leaders and another to the Serbian people through the state-controlled media. By using the information space and stifling civil society, President Vucic continues to embrace nationalist Serbian narratives and nurture a vision of a “Serbian world”, Menendez said, adding that such a concept is reminiscent of the Russian President’s vision of a Greater Russia.

“The Serbian president has boasted of his close ties with Putin, travelled to Moscow for trade talks and refuses to join his European partners in sanctioning Russia.”

On sanctions against Russia

Derek Chollet recalled that Serbia has in some respects aligned itself with European and Western policy towards Russia and Ukraine.

“Although they have not joined the sanctions and we have made it clear that if they don’t it is difficult to see how they will move forward in the integration process, they have aligned in terms of criticizing and condemning Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, through votes in the UN, condemning the annexation of Crimea, helping Ukraine in the field of refugees and critical infrastructure, and sending humanitarian aid, but they still have to comply with European sanctions against Russia.”

What does the New York Times text say?

The New York Times has published an article about the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, as well as about the links of the criminal clan of Veljko Belivuk with the state leadership that coincided with the rise of the SNS and Vučić to power in 2012.

Responding to claims by some tabloids that the New York Times article on the Belivuk clan’s links to Vučić was “written without evidence”, KRIK editor Stevan Dojčinović says that the article is “definitely based on facts” that have already been published by the media in Serbia.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic commented on the New York Times text linking him and his country to the clan of Veljko Belivuk, saying that he understood the message perfectly well and who it was coming from.

Vucic pointed out at the press conference that such a text in the New York Times cannot be published just like that, but it is already known who decides.

New York Times harsh response to Vucic

“The New York Times article on the Serbian trial and the links between the country’s top leadership and violent drug gangs is based on dozens of interviews, documents, court transcripts and Robert Worth’s rigorous reporting from the field. Every other insinuation is false,” it is stated in the response of the New York Times to the portal Nova.rs./Nova.rs/