The former director of the Serbian Intelligence Agency (BIA), Aleksandar Vulin, has been decorated by the director of the Russian Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, for what has been described as “exceptional professionalism and contribution to cooperation between Serbian and Russian services”.
Aleksandar Vulin, who was the director of the Serbian Security and Information Agency known as BIA until November of last year, leads the Serbian party Socialist Movement and has been a partner in the governing coalition led by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
In early November of last year, he resigned, four months after being sanctioned by the United States for involvement in corrupt and destabilizing activities that undermine the rule of law in the Western Balkans and for aiding Moscow in malicious activities and connections to an arms dealer and a drug trafficking network.
After his resignation, he was appointed a senator in the Republic of Serbia by the president of that entity in Bosnia, Milorad Dodik.
There was no comment from Serbian authorities on his decoration by Moscow, but the Free Citizens’ Movement, a political organization in Serbia, said that with the decoration, “the suspicion that the so-called military neutrality is in fact just a cover for Russia’s soft influence in these regions has ended”.
The official of this movement, Aris Movsesijan, said that Serbia should distance itself from “Vulin’s decoration” if it “continues its path towards the European Union and creates its foreign policy in that direction”.
Srbija da se ogradi od ordena kojim je Vulin nagrađen od FSB!
Aris Movsesijan iz Pokreta slobodnih građana reagovao je na vest da je direktor FSB-a Aleksandar Bortnikov odlikovao Aleksandra Vulina: “To je odlična vest. Time je stavljena tačka na sumnju da je takozvana „vojna… pic.twitter.com/d9svJlyYjj
— Slobodni građani (@pokretslobodnih) January 28, 2024
Aleksandar Vulin has served as the Interior Minister of Serbia in the previous government and held the position of Defense Minister earlier, before becoming the director of the Serbian Intelligence Agency in 2022.
As Serbia’s Interior Minister, Vulin visited Moscow in August 2022, a rare visit by a European state official, which highlighted Belgrade’s refusal to join Western sanctions against Russia due to its aggression in Ukraine.
Serbia, which officially seeks membership in the European Union, has been deviating from its path towards the EU for years, orienting itself towards its traditional Slavic ally, Russia, as well as China.
Aleksandar Vulin has said that Serbia should abandon its efforts to join the EU and turn to Moscow, often attacking Serbia’s neighboring states and their leaders and calling them derogatory names. He has been banned from entering Croatia, an EU member.
He has defended the creation of the so-called “Serbian World” – a copy of the “Russian World”, which would unite all Serbs in the Balkans under a flag led by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
