Serbia's Security Information Agency

BELGRADE - Serbia's Security Information Agency (BIA) on Monday dismissed as absurd allegations in an Amnesty International report that Serbian authorities were using software to unlawfully spy on activists and journalists.

BELGRADE - Whenever Germany showed concern for Serbia, that did not end well, Republika Srpska Senator Aleksandar Vulin, who was until recently head of Serbia's Security Information Agency, said on Tuesday, noting that Germany's concern had never been about Serbia's well-being.

Commenting on US sanctions imposed on the head of Serbia's Security Information Agency, BIA, Aleksandar Vulin, President Aleksandar Vucic said he is not being sanctioned for any criminal activities but for his close ties with Russia.

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Aleksandar Vulin, the hardline head of Serbia's Security Information Agency, BIA, accusing him of involvement in various corrupt activities.

Serbia's chief intelligence service said on Monday it had written to its Swiss counterpart to complain about remarks made by former Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty saying he had been provided with police protection due to death threats from "certain circles of the Serbian intelligence services."

In research published on Monday, Citizen Lab, an Institute of the University of Toronto that specializes in surveillance issues, listed 25 countries and agencies - including Serbia's Security Information Agency - that use the software of the Israeli company Circles, which enables the user to locate every phone in the country in seconds.

The president's press service said in a statement issued after the meeting that Vucic and Naryshkin spoke about "the security situation in the Balkan region, Europe, and the world."

They agreed on continued cooperation and activities in intelligence and security sectors, the statement added.

Director of Serbia's Security Information Agency (BIA) attended the meeting.

A senior official of the ruling Progressive Party, Bratislav Gasic, best known recently for making a sexist insult to a journalist, will be the next director of Serbia's Security Information Agency, the BIA.

The Belgrade-based daily Blic has started publishing articles which it says reveal "secret data about the Albanian mafia in Kosovo."

In the first installment of a series of articles, the newspaper writes that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci "heads one of the biggest criminal organizations."

BELGRADE - The spokeswoman of the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Tatjana Sekulic, confirmed to Tanjug Friday one person had been arrested in a collaboration between the Prosecutor's Office and Serbia's Security Information Agency (BIA), but declined to elaborate on the case for the time being.

The arrestee has been placed in 48-hour custody, Sekulic added.