Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister, has stated that during his time as Minister of Internal Affairs and Director of the Security and Information Agency (BIA), he compiled lists of individuals deemed unwelcome in Serbia.
“I created these lists as the Minister of Police and Director of BIA, based on the law and my conscience. I regret not dedicating more effort to this, as I see how many despicable people have been overlooked. [Serbian President] Aleksandar Vučić was not consulted and did not need to be consulted about this,” Vulin said in a statement published on his party’s website, the Socialist Movement, as reported by Radio Free Europe’s Balkan Service.
His comments follow controversy in Serbia after Croatian singer Severina Vučković was detained for a few hours at the Serbian border due to being on a “watchlist.”
Vulin mentioned that the lists included individuals who had spoken or sung about Serbia in a negative context.
“On the lists I submitted to the competent authorities, there were foreign nationals who came to Serbia to participate in violent protests, as well as drug lords—from Sarajevo to Pristina and Skopje,” Vulin said.
He added that the lists also included Montenegrin deputies who voted to declare Serbia genocidal.
Singer Severina Vučković was released after a few hours at the border on August 25 but did not enter Serbia afterward.
“I was asked what I think about Srebrenica, about [Operation] Storm, why I supported protests against lithium extraction…,” Vučković said after the incident.
She added that she loves Serbia, where protests against lithium extraction are taking place, but she will not go there while Aleksandar Vučić is in power.
Following backlash from opposition figures in Serbia, non-governmental organizations, activists, and artists, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić stated that Vučković was not arrested but “detained for a check” and that the lists used to detain the singer “might be deleted in the coming days.”
Vulin served as Serbia’s Minister of Internal Affairs from October 2020 to October 2022 and as Director of BIA from December 2022 to November 2023.
