Serbia appoints two ministers under US sanctions for Russia ties

Serbia has appointed two ministers under US sanctions for their close ties with Russia, signalling President Aleksandar Vučić’s defiant stance towards the west as he prepares to welcome Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The Serbian parliament on Thursday approved a new cabinet, including deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vulin and Nenad Popović, a new minister without portfolio. Both are subject to travel bans and asset freezes in the US for their ties to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Vulin, a former defence minister and secret service chief, was placed under sanctions by the US state department last year “for engaging in corrupt and destabilising activities that . . . advance Russia’s malign activities”. Popović followed him a few months later for maintaining “close ties to the Kremlin” and using his network “for corrupt schemes to build personal wealth”.

Both men deny any wrongdoing.

The state department said it was “disappointed” to see two people under sanctions take up government positions.

Vučić shot back, emphasising that the government was the result of democratic elections and that the US had no right to say who should be a member of cabinet.

A senior government official said that the appointments of Vulin and Popović encapsulated Belgrade’s balancing act between east and west, while at the same time keeping them at an arm’s length, as neither will wield any significant power.

The appointment comes days before Xi is expected to arrive in Serbia as part of his first trip to Europe since the Covid-19 pandemic. Hungary and France are his other two destinations on this journey.

“This is a continuation of very similar politics from Vučić, the balancing act he’s played since Russia invaded Ukraine,” said Helena Ivanov, associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think-tank. “There are always some more pro-Russian people in the government alongside pro-EU and pro-US members.”

The appointments can also be seen as a way for Vučić to cushion the impact of two impending diplomatic losses: Kosovo’s membership of the Council of Europe and the designation of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia carried out by Serbian forces as a genocide by the UN.

In 1995, when the massacre happened, Vučić was a far-right member of parliament rising quickly through the ranks. Three years later, he became propaganda minister for Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, a position Vučić held during the Nato bombing of Belgrade — an event that solidified Serbia’s anti-American stance.

Vulin, a left-wing politician, has been in senior government positions even since Vučić first rose to power, a decade ago. He had been one of the president’s most trusted allies, said Ivanov.

“Vulin can be an advantage locally, displaying an image of independence, that no one can control Serbia,” she added. “It’s the same balancing act, between east and west, and between foreign and domestic audiences, that have defined Vučić for a long time.”