US sanctions Nikolai Patrushev’s Serbian pet
Tom Rogan
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The Treasury Department has rightly sanctioned the head of Serbia’s BIA civilian intelligence service, Aleksandar Vulin.
While he presents himself as a well-credentialed Serbian ultranationalist, Vulin exists primarily as a favored Kremlin pet and American enemy. The Treasury Department noted that Vulin has “used his public positions to support Russia, facilitating Russia’s malign activities that degrade the security and stability of the Western Balkans and providing Russia a platform to further its influence in the region.”
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That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As I’ve noted, Vulin is both personally and professionally close to Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. The master of the darkest of dark arts of the Russian intelligence and security services, Patrushev is an anti-Western ideologue who makes Russian President Vladimir Putin look moderate by comparison. Patrushev despises the United States with a vengeance, viewing America as the enduring “main enemy” of Russia. While the U.S. intelligence community has decided that it would rather not address the so-called Havana syndrome, for example, Patrushev bears close association with that concern.
Yet the Treasury Department makes clear that Vulin is being sanctioned for more than just his Russia connections.
Alongside involvement in a drug trafficking ring, a familiar pastime for politicians in this part of the world, Vulin is said to have “maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with U.S.-designated Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tesic, helping ensure that Tesic’s illegal arms shipments can move freely across Serbia’s borders.”
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That Vulin is now under sanctions is a hint that what is known publicly about his activities pales in comparison with what the U.S. knows privately about them. Still, this is a positive action. Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia are building, and although Kosovo shares in the blame for those tensions, the U.S. must show that it is not afraid to take a stand in defense of its interests and against its enemies.
And Vulin is most certainly an American enemy.