Brnabic: I Am Trying to Persuade Vucic to Not Travel to Tivat

Ana Brnabic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

Serbian Speaker Ana Brnabic said in the evening on June 3 that she spoke with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to try to persuade him not to travel to Tivat, where the EU-Western Balkans Summit is to take place on June 4-5. Brnabic explained she believes Vucic’s safety is in jeopardy but that he “won’t even hear of it.”

“I am currently at a dinner with Vucic and [European Council President Antonio] Costa, but am actually constantly on the phone instead and am seriously worried. I tried to speak with Vucic, but the president won’t even hear of abandoning his trip to Montenegro. He always keeps his word and promises and [attending the Summit] is important to him because of our people but also our European partners. There isn’t a chance of me dissuading him,” Brnabic told TV Informer.

The Serbian Security and Information Agency (BIA) has released an official announcement advising Vucic against traveling to Montenegro, because the leader of the Kavac criminal gang Radoje Zvicer is in that country.

Brnabic went on to explain that the entire matter spurred an extraordinary meeting of the Serbian Progressive Party Executive Committee, where Vucic’s party colleagues tried also to talk him out of traveling on June 4, suggesting he leave on June 5, attend the conference and not to spend the night in Montenegro.

Long lines and stricter controls of passengers were registered at the border crossings between Serbia and Montenegro in the morning on June 4, while some 30 Montenegrin citizens were stopped at the Belgrade Airport in the evening of June 3 upon their arrival from Podgorica, according to Podgorica-based media citing eyewitness reports.

Many alternative news outlets, however, claim these developments are tied to Montenegro refusing entry to some 90 individuals from Vucic’s “advanced team,” due to them having criminal records and/or being listed as “persons of interest” by Montenegro’s National Security Agency.