LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: Many in West more nervous than Serbs, Albanians (Tanjug/RTS)

Many in the West are more nervous about the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue than the Serbs or the Albanians are, and I do not know why, as we must speak to each other and solve problems, which is what we are doing, says Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. I do not understand why they are in such a rush or why someone wants to accelerate processes, Vucic said at the Ubersee business club in Hamburg Monday. Presenting his take on the solution for the Kosovo issue in the context of Serbia’s EU accession, Vucic noted that setting conditions for the opening of chapters or getting a visa-free regime was not the solution because it generated an even worse atmosphere in Belgrade and Pristina, respectively. The dispute between the Serbs and the Albanians has been going on for years and it cannot be ended through bureaucratic solutions, but a change of mentality, he said. “That does not mean we will recognize Kosovo, but our mentality must change, as well as the mentality of the Kosovo Albanians – but that’s a process, not a decision to be made by bureaucrats,” said Vucic.

Dacic: EU doesn’t like Serbia’s cooperation with Russia and China (Beta/Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic thinks the EU does not look kindly on Serbia’s cooperation with Russia and China. At the same time, remarked Dacic, who is also Serbia’s first deputy prime minister, the EU itself cooperates with these countries. Speaking on Tuesday in Belgrade at the international conference “The Belt and the Road – Balkan Perspective”, Dacic said that Serbia’s trade exchange with Russia dropped by 25 percent last year, and that this was an obvious consequence that should be stopped. According to Dacic, the US has increased its trade with Russia by 25 percent, Beta reported. Tanjug reported that Dacic said Serbia’s trade with Russia last year was down by 25 percent irrespective of the fact that Serbia has not imposed sanctions on Russia, while trade with the US grew. “It would not be fair and it would not be friendly for us to sever our excellent relations with Russia and China,” he said, stressing that Serbia wants to be on the European path. The Minister then jokingly brought up the Montenegrin saying, “there’s 200 million of us and Russians” – to say that due to Serbia’s good relations with China, Serbians could now say, “there’s 1.26 billion of us and the Chinese”. Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang was taking part in the same conference, stating in his address that the two countries should continue working on infrastructure projects and on increasing their trade. Both Dacic and Li stressed the importance of the upcoming Summit of Prime Ministers of China and Central and Eastern European Countries in Riga, Latvia, when agreements will be signed designed to further strengthen the Serbia-China ties.

Dacic: UNMIK should continue to work at full capacity (Beta)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that the expectation was for the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to continue its work at full capacity, based on its mandate and in line with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244. Dacic’s view was quoted in a press release by his ministry, issued after a meeting with Director for Asia, Middle East, Europe and Latin America at the U.N. Department for Peacekeeping Operations Peter Due, visiting Belgrade as part of a regular tour of the region. Due and Dacic also discussed the situation in Kosovo, UNMIK actions, further engagement by the Mission in the areas critical for the survival, normal and dignified lives of Serbs and other non-Albanians, and the important role of UNMIK in assisting the implementation of agreements reached in Brussels, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in the press release.

Djordjevic: Up to 700 troops take part in 2016 multinational operations (Beta)

Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic said that the plan was to send up to 700 members of the defense ministry and the Serbian army to multinational operations, adding that Serbia had placed heavy emphasis on the engagement of military-medical resources, also increasing the number of women to join the operations. Djordjevic said this at a meeting with Director for

Asia, Middle East, Europe and Latin America at the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations Peter Due, also discussing with the U.N. official Serbia’s role in peacekeeping missions under the auspices of his organization, the defense ministry reported. Speaking of the history of Serbia’s participation in multinational operations, Djordjevic recalled that currently 332 members of his ministry and the Army of Serbia were taking part in seven U.N. missions.

“The plan is that up to 700 members of the Ministry of Defense and the Army of Serbia should take part in multinational operations,” Djordjevic was quoted as saying in a press release by the Ministry.

Stefanovic discusses “Bytyci brothers” case with Fatos Bytici (RTS)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic talked with Fatos Bytyci, the brother of Ilij, Mehmet and Agron Bytyci, in the presence of the Serbian Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac, deputy higher public prosecutor Branko Stamenkovic and head of the Service for discovering war crimes Momcilo Stevanovic. During the talk, which also attended by US Deputy Ambassador Kurt Donnelly, Minister Stefanovic pointed out that the Serbian state and its competent institutions were investing maximum efforts aimed at shedding light on this case.

Tachi released (Tanjug)

The Serbian Prosecution for Organized Crime has suspended the investigation against the Director of the Kosovo Police Nehat Tachi, and he was released today, Tanjug reports. After the interrogation of witnesses who didn’t recognize him as the perpetrator, the Prosecution has given up from further criminal prosecution of Tachi for the crime of terrorism.

Vucic to resign as Security bureau head (Vecernje Novosti)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is going to resign as the head of the Security Services Coordination Bureau, and he will inform the President Tomislav Nikolic about it in the coming days, Novosti wrote. Vucic, who has announced the resignation long time ago, but then stopped mentioning it completely, allegedly definitively made the decision to do so, and it will be “the first political consequence” of finding the weapons near the house of the Vucic family, a case which “exposed cracks in the security system of the prime minister,” the daily wrote. Novosti’s sources claimed that the Prime Minister decided to take this step “because the security services have not convinced him that they have everything under control.” “It is amazing that the intelligence agents said to Vucic no less than five different versions of the event,” the daily wrote.

Handover of Directorial Duties in VOA (Politika)

The former Director of Military and Intelligence Agency (VOA), Brigadier General Slavoljub Dabic handed over his duties and responsibilities to his deputy, Colonel Zoran Stojkovic, Ministry of Defense announced. Dabic is retiring after he has spent more than 40 years in the army, it said. “The change in the top of this secret service occurred at an awkward moment, at the time of the, from the state officials, unusual criticism of the work of security services concerning the weapons found in the vicinity of the family house of Aleksandar Vucic, even though the VOA is only indirectly in charge of his security – through the exchange of information in the Bureau for the coordination of security services,” writes Politika. The daily assumes that the Ministry of Defense had, precisely so as to prevent such interpretations, published that “for such occasion an unusual announcement titled ‘Regular transfer of duties for VOA director’, with an added announcement that a formal farewell reception had been organized for Dabic last week”. Politika also points out that the announcement states that Dabic had, in the past month, gradually carried out the transfer of duty to Stojkovic, which is also supposed to show that this replacement had been planned earlier and had nothing to do with the current affair. As for the new VOA chief, the daily writes that Stojkovic began his career as an infantry officer, and continued on the Military Academy, at the Department of the counter-intelligence service with the School of National Defense. From there he crossed into the VOA, where he served at the duties of chief of the department for foreign services and chief of department of monitoring terrorism in analytics. “He has completed the Command-headquarters practice, and it is interesting that he had officially spent longer periods of time in both the US and in Russia. Stojkovic, who speaks English and Russian, trained in the US at the National Defense University, while in Russia he carried out the duty of Serbia’s military attaché,” Politika writes.

Russian soldiers headed for Serbia for “Slavic Brotherhood” (Tanjug)

More than 150 members of the Ivanovski Battalion of Russia’s Airborne Troops (VDV) are due to arrive in Serbia for a joint military exercise. The Russians will participate in the exercise, dubbed “Slavic Brotherhood 2016”, together with Serbian soldiers. They will also be joined by members of the Belarus military. The drill will be taking place near Belgrade November 2-15. Beside the VDV troops, Russia is sending three Il-76MD planes with over 50 soldiers, members of the military-transport aviation. Sputnik reported this on Monday, citing a statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense. In addition, three BMD-2 armored vehicles, a Tachyon drone, and four ATVs will also arrive in Serbia for the purposes of the exercise. The first “Slavic Brotherhood” drill was held last year near Novorossiysk, RF. The Serbian Army announced earlier that this year’s “Slavic Brotherhood” represent a continuation of the cooperation between the VDV and Serbia’s Special Brigade, that started in 2014 with the “SREM 2014” exercise.

Preparations for Medvedev’s visit to begin on Wednesday (Vecernje Novosti)

Preparations for the visit of the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Belgrade are going to start on Wednesday with a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic and the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Novosti wrote. The most important thing for the Serbian side is to use the visit for an agreement on export of Fiat manufactured in Kragujevac to Russia, while the Russian side insists on reaching an agreement on Russian personnel of the humanitarian center in Nis to get diplomatic status, the daily wrote.

REGIONAL PRESS

Radoncic ends testimony in Kelmendi’s trial in Pristina (Hayat)

SBB B&H leader Fahrudin Radoncic ended his testimony in trial against drug lord Naser Kelmendi before the Basic Court in Pristina on Monday. On the last day of his testimony in the capacity of prosecution witness, Radoncic presented details in Kelmendi’s case by responding to questions asked by the prosecutor (EULEX Special Prosecutor Andrew Hughes). The questions were related to Sejla Turkovic and Zijad Turkovic, Naser Oric, and events on the day following the murder of Ramiz Delalic a.k.a. Celo in Sarajevo. Radoncic refused to comment on who is actually behind ‘Bosniak state mafia’, after his previous statement about ‘Bosniak state mafia’ being responsible for Delalic’s murder sparked harsh reactions. However, Radoncic presented serious accusations against several people close to Bosniak political leadership. Asked by the prosecutor whether there is an investigation against the mafia he mentioned, Radoncic replied that the only thing he knows about work of the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H is that B&H Prosecutor Dubravko Campara is trying to turn the investigation into the direction against Kelmendi, himself (Radoncic), “or someone else”. He claims that there is a political background to what Campara is doing. Radoncic added that SDA senior official and Chairman of B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) Denis Zvizdic sees him (Radoncic) as “political rival that needs to be discredited”. Radoncic denied that Avaz Twist Tower building was built with the help of Kelmendi’s money. “That is untrue and tax administration of the prosecutor’s office also checked it. That was the purest investment in B&H,” Radoncic noted. Radoncic dismissed Sejla Turkovic’s claims incriminating him i.e. that she received a text message from Radoncic in the night Delalic was killed in which he allegedly warned her to “keep quiet” or that Kelmendi gave EUR one million for Radoncic’s election campaign. Radoncic also denied Sejla Turkovic’s claims that he sent an envelope with money to Zijad Turkovic for “doing some business” for him or that he redirected investigation into Delalic’s murder towards “other people”. Asked about Oric, Radoncic briefly said that Oric was a close friend to first B&H President Alija Izetbegovic and that everyone respected him as RB&H Army Commander in Srebrenica.

SDA Collegium discusses Radoncic’s testimony in Kelmendi’s trial and the coalition with SBB (BN TV)

Collegium of SDA held a session in Sarajevo on Monday and condemned the statements SBB B&H leader Fahrudin Radoncic made during testimony as prosecution witness in trial of drug lord Naser Kelmendi, before the Basic Court in Pristina. Namely, Radoncic said that ‘Bosniak state mafia’ is responsible for killing of Ramiz Delalic a.k.a. Celo because they wanted to prevent Delalic from shedding light on a dozen of political murders. Radoncic also stated that first B&H President Alija Izetbegovic ordered some murders. In addition, SDA Collegium emphasized that regardless of relations between leaders of the two parties, the coalition of SDA and SBB should survive until the end of the term. Following the Collegium’s session, SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic said that SDA will put effort into survival of coalition, but that the party cannot remain silent when lies are being told about SDA and Alija Izetbegovic.

RSNA reps refuse to annul decision to award convicted war criminals with charters of merit (N1)

Representatives of the Republika Srpska (RS) National Assembly (NA) said on Monday that they will not annul the RSNA’s decision to award convicted war criminals, including (first RS President) Radovan Karadzic and (first RSNA Speaker) Momcilo Krajisnik, with charters of merit on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of existence of the RSNA. RSNA Speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic said that it was not their intention to hurt anyone’s feelings, adding that he did not decide on the names of those who will get the awards. “Board for marking this jubilee, and not the RSNA, selected the individuals and organizations that will receive the charters. I proposed some other individuals and organizations, but the Board decided the way it did,” Cubrilovic told reports in Banja Luka. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) reiterated its previous position, failing to say whether it will comply with the request of the Islamic Community in B&H. “By glorifying war criminals, the RS authorities have missed an opportunity to present the RS as a politically mature, modern, progressive entity of all constituent peoples and citizens,” High Representative Valentin Inzko said. Almost all representatives of the international community in B&H, including representatives of the EU Delegation to B&H, US Embassy and the OSCE Mission to B&H, condemned the RSNA’s decision to award convicted war criminals with charters of merit. Representatives of the RS Helsinki Committee for Human Rights were among the first people who condemned the aforementioned decision of the RSNA. “There are those whom this obstruction suits, for the country to be trapped in a mud that hides enormous corruption and in such a situation, it does not suit the politicians to build peace. They are only insisting on policies and ideologies of crime, ethnic cleansing and divisions,” Head of the RS Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Branko Todorovic said.

RS will soon have its list of voters (EuroBlic)

SNSD confirmed that Republika Srpska (RS) will change its existing Law on Referendum and Civil Initiative and added that the changes might be sent to the procedure in the next two months, latest at the beginning of next year. SNSD explained that certain lacks were noticed during the preparation and holding of the referendum on the RS Day and those lacks will have to be removed from the existing law. “The law stipulates certain procedures under the assumption of realization in cooperation with all institutions. However, if some of those, like the Central Election Commission (CEC), bring a political dimension to all of that and refuse to deliver lists of voters to the RS, then we have a problem. We will work on simplification of those procedures in the upcoming period of time and we will do our best for the RS to have its list of voters so that it can be independent from B&H CEC”, Vice President of SNSD Marko Vidakovic stated. Chair of the RS Commission for Implementation of the Referendum Sinisa Karan stated that the referendum on the RS Day showed all advantages and flaws of the existing law. “We plan to adopt a new law on referendum and civil initiative. We saw what kind of obstacles we have faced, and one of those is certainly the central list of voters. Now we are aware that we need a new law and that is what we will be dealing with in the next several months,” Karan added.

Croatia concerned over arrest of B&H Croat veterans (Hina)

Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) on Monday expressed concern over the arrest of ten B&H Croat war veterans in the northern B&H town of Orasje and asked the country’s authorities to allow the Croatian ambassador to visit the arrested men, who have dual B&H and Croatian citizenship. The men were arrested on Monday on suspicion that they had committed war crimes against Serbs during the 1992-1995 war in B&H, prosecutors said. Croatian Ambassador Ivan Del Vechio was instructed to request permission from the B&H authorities to visit and talk to the arrested men. Among those arrested is Djuro Matuzovic (64), a retired general and wartime commander of Croat HVO forces in the Orasje area. The ten men, wartime members of the HVO military and police structures in Orasje, are suspected of committing war crimes against Serbs held in detention camps between April 1992 and July 1993. After they are processed by the police, they will be handed over to the State Prosecutor’s Office which will decide whether it will request pre-trial custody for the suspects.

Seven Bosnians jailed for having joined Islamic State (Hina)

Seven Bosnian men that fought for the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) were on Monday given prison sentences ranging from one to three years at their trial before the State Court of B&H. It was proved beyond doubt that the seven men had fought for IS in Syria in 2013 and 2014. They were also charged with violating B&H’s laws and with illegal arms possession. Their verdicts are subject to appeal. The accused are Enes Mesic, who received three years, Adem Karamuja (two years), Mirza Kapic (22 months), Jasmin Jasarevic and Salko Imamovic (16 months each), and Ibro Delic and Samir Hadzalic (one year each).

Albanian FM urges B&H authorities to recognize Kosovo travel documents (Hina)

Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati called on B&H authorities on Monday to finally recognize Kosovo travel documents and enable its citizens to freely travel like the citizens of all other countries in the region. “All citizens of the region must have that right,” Bushati said at a news conference in Sarajevo after meeting with Bosnian Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak. B&H and Serbia are the only countries in the region not to have recognized Kosovo’s independence, including its documents, as a result of which its citizens cannot travel to B&H, nor can B&H citizens travel to Kosovo, which introduced reciprocity. Albania and B&H have an agreement under which their citizens can travel with ID cards. Bushati said this fact was a good example of cooperation and that, although the recognition issue remained open, there was no reason why B&H and Kosovo citizens could not travel freely. B&H’s recognition of Kosovo is being prevented by B&H Serb officials who strictly follow Serbia’s policy, but the approach in B&H is stricter, as Kosovo and Serbia citizens can freely travel from one country to the other. B&H business people have been complaining about the unregulated relations with Kosovo because they suffer millions in losses.

DPS and minorities negotiations (CDM)

Vice Prime Minister and DPS candidate for new Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said that negotiations over structuring new government will be successfully finalized in the next two days. Markovic made this statement during his visit to the camp on Zlatica where preparations for military exercise Montenegro 2016 are being held. “Negotiations with potential partners are going very well and I hope that they will be finalized in two days. My hope is that we will have a candidate for new prime minister soon”, Markovic stated. Parties that represent national minorities BS, Forca and HGI still have not made a definitive decision on who to support in forming new government, but CDM reliably learns that they would rather support the leadership than Democratic Front. After the platform of minority parties is agreed upon, they will negotiate with DPS on Wednesday. Experience so far demonstrated that minorities traditionally do not cooperate with opposition, even when they are offered a prime minister seat. On the other hand, it is expected that they will make requests that need to have an international guarantee.

Unrealistic tendencies divide right-wing parties (Telegraf.mk)

The unrealistic demands of the leaders of the Democratic Alliance and FRODEM Pavle Trajanov and Jove Kekenovski, is the reason for the failure in negotiations between the right-wing opposition parties and not the possible coalition with VMRO-DPMNE. As Telegraf.mk found out, the problem occurred when they started the talks on the candidate lists and the number of the candidates of each party. Kekenovski and Trajanov believe that their staff should be most present of the candidate lists, on which VMRO People’s Party and United for Macedonia objected. DS and FRODEM then clumsily tried to present to the public that VMRO People’s Party undermined the negotiations. Of no help was the fact that Trajanov and Kekenovski were clearly told that they are not worth more than 10,000 votes and they cannot set conditions. Estimates are that the party of Ljubco Gerogievski on these elections can earn about 40,000 votes which can be concentrated, and not fragmented into several constituencies, as was the case in past cycles. VMRO People’s Party confirmed on last night’s Central Committee decided on a joint appearance with United for Macedonia and Dignity. “In the coming days we will have to agree personalized solutions. We remain open to coalition with VMRO-DPMNE if we are offered”, the party told Telegraf.mk.

Nikola Todorov: It was confirmed that Electoral Roll contains no phantom voters (MIA)

After the electoral roll was completely purified with a methodology demanded by SDSM, the claims by the opposition about the phantom voters and the voter turnout have been refuted, the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE said on Monday. With these claims, Nikola Todorov, member of the Executive Committee of VMRO-DPMNE said at a press conference, the SDSM leadership in the past two years avoided electoral confrontation and justified the party rating. “For two years, SDSM literally lied to the public that the electoral roll contained half a million phantom voters. Then, its leadership figured out that the roll had 450,000 phantoms, and then they came up with a number of 300,000 phantom voters. From day to day they invented and placed different numbers of voters, until they eventually reached the figure of 150,000 phantom voters with whom they allegedly tried to justify their election defeat in 2014. Later, they began to put additional pressures placing new lies that there were no more than 1.5 million voters,” Todorov said. After purging of the electoral roll, Todorov stated, according to official data of the State Election Commission, there are 1,783,215 voters or 3,087 more than the number of voters in 2014. “The lies and claims of SDSM disappeared like a soap bubble. So there are no half a million or 300,000 phantom voters. It is just another huge lie of SDSM”, Todorov said. He said the SDSM will lose the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for December 11, because of, as he said, the lies and manipulation to people and the destruction they promote. “The public does not like lies. People are against the crisis SDSM initiated. On December 11th, the people will vote against SDSM’s lies, against the crisis and against Zaev and SDSM in general,” Todorov said.

Macedonia and UN sign new Five-year Strategy (MIA)

Macedonia remains committed to promoting the basic values of the United Nations – peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said in his address at Monday’s event marking UN’s 71st anniversary. Poposki and the United Nations Resident Coordinator Louisa Vinton signed a new five-year strategy “Partnership for Sustainable Development” worth USD 120,9 million, which aims to promote equal and sustainable development, as well as support to Macedonia’s EU integration. “The document represents a continuity of the joint activities in the coming five years in areas that have priority for the Government, including increase of employment, good governance and professional institutions, increased social inclusion, enhanced care for vulnerable categories, gender equality, clean and sustainable environment, which will clearly help the country’s Euro-integration process,” stressed Poposki. UN’s Vinton said the UN family would continue to work with partners in government institutions, civil society and the international community in order to be sure that no citizen is disregarded, in the spirit of the sustainable development goals “We turned the sustainable development goals into a new five­-year strategy through five key priorities ­ creating more and better jobs; strengthening institutions of the administration towards more transparent and just operations; overcoming of social inclusion, especially of Roma and handicapped persons; delivery of promises regarding gender equality and environment protection; fight against climate change and building resistance against disasters”, she added. The new strategy has been developed in consultation with national partners. It harmonizes UN activities with the Sustainable Development Goals in global terms and the EU accession in regional context. It also supports numerous national strategies and action plans in a number of sectors.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

IMF raises Serbia’s growth forecast, agrees to targeted wage, pension increase (Reuters, 1 November 2016) BELGRADE – The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised Serbia’s 2016 growth forecast to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent and said it had agreed to a targeted public-sector wage and pension increase in 2017. In a statement after the mission completed its sixth review of a 1.2 billion-euro loan agreement, the Fund said it expected Serbian economic growth of 3 percent in 2017. “Strong performance under Serbia’s economic program continues. Growth is strengthening, and labour market indicators show noticeable improvement,” the IMF said in the statement. The mission arrived in Serbia on Oct. 20 to meet Serbian officials and assess if the EU candidate country is complying with policies agreed in the loan deal.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac and Aleksandar Vasovic, editing by Larry King)

Serbia: War of spies or public relations debacle? (DW, 31 October 2016)

Belgrade claims that “Western and Eastern” intelligence agencies are extremely active in the Balkan nation. What is behind the Serbian government’s rhetoric?

Last week’s events overwhelmed even the Serbian public, which is accustomed to hearing scandalous rumors. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic (pictured at top) often holds dramatic press conferences broadcast live by pro-government media outlets. Sometimes he just lashes out at Kosovo, sometimes at political rivals – then, the supposed economic boom that lies ahead is announced. But this time, Vucic touched on some hot topics: espionage, a thwarted coup and the story of a small, but unyielding Serbia that is supposedly being harassed by “Eastern and Western powers.”

Coup attempt in Montenegro?

The reason for this was that while citizens of the neighboring Republic of Montenegro were casting their ballots during parliamentary elections in mid-October, the arrest of 20 Serbian citizens attracted a great deal of media attention. They had allegedly planned a coup against outgoing Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic because he wants to lead the small Adriatic nation to NATO membership. The putschists apparently wanted to help the opposition, supposedly backed by the Kremlin, take power. It is no secret that Russia is critical of NATO’s expansion. The Western military alliance’s growing reach is painful for the Kremlin, not only because Montenegro is traditionally pro-Russian but also because with the admission of the small nation to NATO, the alliance will have secured the last piece of the Adriatic coast it was missing. The pro-Western Djukanovic won the election by a narrow margin. The arrests on election day were decisive for his win. Now, his Serbian counterpart insists that a coup in Montenegro had been orchestrated in Serbia. The Serbian prime minister did not provide details, and people are speculating whether Russian intelligence agencies are involved. Many observers feel that this incident was a public relations debacle. Vucic only noted that Serbia would not allow itself to become the puppet of world powers. “An unclear situation is ideal for populists,” said Milos Vasic, an experienced journalist from the weekly paper “Vreme.” He is surprised that the government was talking about spies without anyone having been arrested in Serbia, and says everything is a show to divert attention from the real economic problems and intrigues. “Whenever the government has no arguments, it likes to talk about foreign spies, local traitors and alleged foreign agents,” Vasic told DW.

Mysterious visit paid by Patrushev

Musings over a “war of spies on the Balkans” were officially fed when Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev visited Belgrade to strengthen cooperation of the two countries. However, many different Serbian papers reported consistently that Patrushev flew three exposed Russian spies out of Belgrade. This was done to avoid a public scandal – that was also written in the Muscovite newspaper “Kommersant.” The Serbian minister of the interior and Russia’s Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov denied the reports. Officially, relations between the Orthodox nations are still good. “Because we have so little reliable information, we have been forced to interpret the prime minister’s words,” Sofija Mandic, of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, told DW. “If foreign intelligence agencies are planning terrorist attacks in Serbia or Montenegro, then one must ask why is this being discussed publicly without it leading to criminal proceedings. And if some Russian citizens really have been deported from Serbia, why where they not arrested?” If that was not enough: Last week, it was said that a high-ranking former justice official has been selling confidential information to the CIA for a long time now. The Belgrade paper “Blic” published names and details. Spy stories lend themselves to the invention of conspiracy theories – a popular pastime in Serbia. “These are the dreams of Serbian nationalist,” said journalist Milos Vasic. “The only geopolitical importance of our country is the fact that important traffic routes run here. We should try to establish better train connections instead of wasting our time with these fabrications.”

Weapons find

On Saturday, things got even hotter. Police seized a weapon stockpile buried not far from Prime Minister Vucic’s apartment. It contained a missile launcher, four hand grenades and ammunition. Vucic seemed nonchalant about it, and the weapons likely came from the wars in Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990s and had nothing to do with the present situation. Yet the tabloids were already outlining a potential attack scenario. “This is the alley where they wanted to blow up Vucic with a missile,” was the headline on the pro-government newspaper “Informer.” It seems like the PR debacle is far from over.