Serbia’s leadership under Aleksandar Vučić has become the target of an unusually blunt remark from Belarusian President Aleksandar Lukashenko, who claims he repeatedly tried to advise Serbian representatives on their parliamentary elections – but they ignored him and went in the opposite direction.
A video published by Belarusian opposition platform NEXTA shows Lukashenko laughing as he recalls the episode.
“I told them several times: do this, do that. But they did everything the opposite way, and look what happened,” he said during an informal exchange on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Eurasian Security in Minsk in early November.
Lukashenko did not name Vučić directly or explain precisely whom he was advising. Nevertheless, his comments have put Serbia’s political establishment in an awkward position. Under Vučić, political power has become heavily concentrated around the presidency, while the country’s electoral process continues to attract criticism and scrutiny.
Now, Serbia’s election strategy is being discussed not only by domestic opponents and international observers, but also by a foreign president who claims Belgrade ignored his advice. For a leadership that prides itself on political control, becoming the subject of such public ridicule is hardly flattering.
The video has since gone viral on social media.
