He departed from his high position in the Serbian secret police, but official Belgrade still supports him. At least when it comes to contacts with Russia, which is isolated from the Western part of the international community.
That Aleksandar Vulin and Marko Parezanović, the former first and second directors of the Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA) of Serbia, were among the participants of the International Security Forum, which will be held from April 23 to 25 in St. Petersburg, the public in Serbia learned from the photos taken during the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed to the forum participants.
In one of the photos, it can be seen that identification plates with the flag of Serbia are placed in front of Vulin and Parezanović, respectively representing the state at this event.
Based on what criteria and in what capacity Parezanović and Vulin were sent to the security forum in Russia to represent Serbia, as well as the answer to the question of who else comprised the state delegation, neither the BIA, nor the Presidency, nor the Government has answered to Radio Free Europe.
According to the executive director of the Belgrade non-governmental organization, the Center for Security Policy, Predrag Petrović, since Wednesday, Vulin and Parezanović have acted in Russia as promoters of the policy of “sitting in two chairs” – both in the East and in the West.
What did Vulin and Parezanović do in BIA?
Aleksandar Vulin has not been at the helm of the BIA since November 2023. He resigned after being placed on the United States sanctions list in July 2023 on charges of corruption, involvement in drug trafficking, and ties with Russia.
Since then, he has not held any official position in Serbia.
Vulin is the founder of the Socialist Party Movement, which is a coalition partner of the Serbian Progressive Party in power in Serbia.
The head of the BIA, Marko Parezanović, became known to the wider public in 2018 when, at a conference of the right-wing organization National Vanguard, he publicly stated that the opposition, non-governmental organizations, and the media are the biggest threat to the security of Serbia.
His name is also mentioned in the police report against Darko Šarić, who is in prison in Serbia, where he was sentenced in 2022 for smuggling 5.7 tons of cocaine.
According to a report published by the Crik portal in March, the police found that Marko Parezanović, hidden under the pseudonym Markus, was mentioned as an assistant to the Šarić clan in Sky (SKY) in communicating with members of this criminal group.
How powerful is the ‘Balkan cartel’
After the publication of this information, the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office announced that the police did not provide evidence for these claims.
The executive director of the non-governmental organization Center for Security Policy in Belgrade, Predrag Petrović, tells RFE that the government in Serbia relies primarily on personal relationships in all areas, and that Vulin and Parezanović have long been known as people who maintain contacts with Moscow at the security level.
“The system is structured in such a way that personal relationships and closeness to President Vučić are much more important than functions, competencies, and responsibilities defined by the constitution and laws of the state,” says Petrović.
Meeting between Vulin and Patrushev
During the holding of the security forum in St. Petersburg, the former director of the BIA, Aleksandar Vulin, met with the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, Vulin’s party, the Socialist Movement, announced on April 24.
According to the announcement, Patrushev personally invited Vulin to St. Petersburg and thanked him for the cooperation of Serbian and Russian services.
The Socialist Movement announced that one of the topics of discussion was the resolution on genocide in Srebrenica.
“Nikolai Patrushev emphasized that the Russian Federation will not support the resolution on Srebrenica that the United Nations General Assembly plans to adopt and that Russia will use its influence and reputation among free countries on this issue to prevent the adoption of the resolution,” the statement said.
The resolution on genocide in Srebrenica is to be before the UN General Assembly in early May.
Official Belgrade is lobbying against its vote, denying, despite international verdicts, that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in 1995.
Continuation of the policy of ‘sitting in two chairs’
Petrović believes that Serbia’s participation in this forum tells the Putin regime that it will remain militarily neutral.
“In return, they expect support for the Kosovo issue and the resolution on Srebrenica, but also support for maintaining regime stability in Serbia,” says Petrović.
He also emphasizes that Serbia’s presence at the Russian security conference does not indicate a complete turn towards Russia, but is a continuation of the policy of “sitting in two chairs”.
That it is not about a complete turn towards Russia is also shown by the fact that Vučić did not go there, but Vulin was sent, who officially does not hold any position,” Petrović concludes.
The international security conference brought together delegations from more than 120 countries and international organizations, including representatives of BRICS member states and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russian authorities announced.
As previously reported by RFE, the president of the Bosniak entity Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, who met with Patrushev on April 23, is also participating in the security meeting in Russia.
In his profile on X, formerly on Twitter, Dodik has published a photo from the meeting showing him standing between the flags of Serbia and RS, with the comment that RS and Serbia are “continuous objectives of Western hybrid warfare. led by the United States, with the aim of enslaving and eradicating the entire Serbian nation.”
“One of the top priorities in the process of shaping a multipolar world project is building new frameworks for international and national security,” Dodik said.
His announcements show that Nenad Nešić, Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and leader of the Democratic People’s Alliance, which is in coalition with Dodik’s Independent Social Democrats Alliance, as well as the Minister of Science and Technology Development and Higher Education of RS, Željko Budimir, are also participating in the security meeting in Russia.
In addition to Patrushev, Russia is represented at the forum by the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, the chairman of the St. Petersburg City Council, Alexander Beglov, and representatives of federal ministries and agencies, while Russian President Vladimir Putin also spoke via video message.
“It is Russia’s attempt to position itself internationally and to show that it has many allies and has a much better international position than it actually is,” Predrag Petrović concluded in an interview for RFE.
Since the beginning of the Russian occupation of Ukraine over two years ago, the United States, Britain, the European Union, Australia, Canada, and Japan have imposed thousands of sanctions against Russia.
Individuals and companies connected to the Russian defense industry have been sanctioned, many companies have left the country, export and import bans are in place.
Together with Belarus and Turkey, Serbia has not imposed sanctions against Russia.
As a candidate country for EU membership, Belgrade is regularly required to harmonize its foreign policy with the policy of the Union it officially aspires to.
Source: Botasot.net
