American spies will reportedly boycott their colleagues in Belgrade over their ‘pro-Russian’ chief
Washington is unhappy with Belgrade’s new choice of spy chief and intends to suspend intelligence cooperation until Serbia rethinks its “personnel solutions,” local CNN affiliate N1 claimed on Friday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
Aleksandar Vulin was named head of the Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA) in early December. He was previously in charge of the Interior Ministry, but swapped places with former BIA head Bratislav Gasic as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
According to N1, the US has signaled to Serbia repeatedly that it disapproved of the appointment, most recently at a meeting between US Ambassador Christopher Hill and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic last week.
“Reliable sources” told the outlet that Hill threatened a “deep freeze” in cooperation between the BIA and the US intelligence community, noting that Vulin presented a “major problem” for Washington.
Hill allegedly told Dacic that the US would prefer to collaborate with the Interior Ministry instead, to which Dacic reportedly replied he would arrange for Gasic to visit Washington soon.
Western-mediated Kosovo and Ukraine deals were lies – Serbia
Read more Western-mediated Kosovo and Ukraine deals were lies – Serbia
The CNN affiliate claims the US considers Vulin pro-Russian. As evidence, N1 pointed to Vulin’s multiple meetings with Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s national security council, while he was in charge of the police. They also brought up the accusations by Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza that Vulin had him wiretapped on Moscow’s behalf. Vulin has denied the allegations and said he would sue Kara-Murza for libel.
Following Hill’s meeting with Dacic last week, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic made a cryptic remark about Belgrade crawling with spies, calling the Serbian capital “the new Casablanca,” in reference to the famous WWII Hollywood movie.
In an interview with the local broadcaster TV Pink, Vucic said the city hadn’t seen that much intelligence activity since the Second World War, and that foreign intelligence agents were “obviously preparing various things,” without naming their countries of origin or objectives.
Though Belgrade officially aspires to EU membership, it has steadfastly refused demands from Brussels and Washington to impose sanctions against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. Vucic has also refused to recognize the breakaway province of Kosovo as an independent state, something the US has insisted on for almost 15 years.
https://www.rt.com/news/569845-serbia-spies-cia-russia/
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
