The White House did not want to comment on the opinion of the "Washington Post" editorial staff that the policy of the US President Joe Biden's administration towards Serbia "looks more and more like a failure".
"Our approach across Europe, and certainly in relation to the Balkan region, is consistent," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said vaguely when Voice of America called him to comment on the text of the respected American newspaper.
The editorial comment of the "Washington Post" states that "Mr. Biden's policy was to embrace the authoritarian president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in an attempt to separate the country from Russia."
"That policy looks more and more like a failure," the text concludes.
Serbian autocrat
The "Washington Post" text is just one of a series of highly critical articles that appeared in reputable Western media after the elections in Serbia. The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, is often described as an "autocrat" who tramples on democratic institutions and is not ready to tear Serbia away from Vladimir Putin's embrace.
"An autocratic nationalist whose political instincts were forged in the Milošević era, Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, is also using his power and influence to foment discord in the Western Balkans, where Belgrade is supporting secessionist campaigns by ethnic Serbs," wrote a recent British The Guardian.
Enumerating all the remarks and objections of the domestic and European missions that observed the election process on December 17, "The Guardian" stated that "the violation of democratic norms and the rule of law in Serbia has gradually accelerated since the SNS took power more than a decade ago", and that is a "school example of state capture" under the command of Aleksandar Vučić.
Reputable German weekly "Zeit" he stated that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić receives only silent criticism from Brussels, because the West still sees him as a man who will pave the way for Serbian recognition of Kosovo, and noted that such a policy is clearly not producing results.
And the "Washington Post" recalls that in the last two weeks there have been protests in Belgrade due to what even independent observers called "numerous election irregularities", as well as that on December 24, the police violently dispersed a crowd that was trying to break into the Belgrade Assembly.
The regime blames the West.
"Scenes of police clashes with protesters have become common in Serbia." But this time, Mr. Vučić and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić claimed that the protests were an attempt to overthrow the government - and implicitly blamed the West for it," the text says.
It is also stated that Vučić "darkly hinted that foreign powers, if not necessarily accomplices, certainly rejected his private warnings about unrest and celebrated the destabilization of Serbia."
"Ms. Brnabić's statements a few days before the settlement help to clarify what Mr. Vučić insinuated. She thanked the Russian security services for providing intelligence indicating that the opposition was preparing to organize Maidan-style protests in Belgrade in order to seize power through revolutionary methods."
The day after Vučić's speech, the Russian ambassador to Serbia said on Russian state television that the Serbian president had confided in him that there was "indisputable information" that the West had incited the protests.
It is added that Vučić, "inciting indignation towards the supposedly distrustful West and aligning himself with Moscow, is gaining points from the nationalist majority while presenting his democratic opponents as puppets of foreign interests".
When is Vučić honest?
However, in private conversations, according to the newspaper, Vučić assured Western interlocutors on several occasions that he is fighting as hard as possible to "bring Serbia into the European Union where it belongs and that he is their only reliable partner".
"The Biden administration based its conciliatory policy on testing the private assurances of Mr. Vučić. Although several dangerous crises in the past year in neighboring Kosovo had Serbian fingerprints, the US avoided assigning too much blame to any party and preferred to call for calm."
Vučić, however, has repeatedly refused to join Western sanctions against Russia, although he appeased the West by allowing Serbian weapons to reach Ukraine through intermediary buyers.
"Sometimes he brought Serbia even closer to Russia. Especially in light of the latest events, in 2021 the Serbian Minister of the Interior traveled to Moscow to hand over recordings of wiretapped conversations of Russian opposition members who had meetings in Belgrade - and signed an agreement with Russia on a joint fight against 'color revolutions'".
And in 2022, when the war in Ukraine was in full swing, Serbia signed an agreement with Russia on foreign policy coordination, the text states.
As for the latest opposition protests in Belgrade, the "Washington Post" assesses that "the Biden administration did its best to be diplomatic, barely mentioning allegations of election manipulation."
"Behind closed doors, Mr. Vučić is probably assuring Western leaders that he is still on their side — that all this is just for show," the Post concludes. "But given how little conciliatory policies have achieved, the Biden administration would have to ask itself whether it's time to try something new."
