Slobodan Tesic

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.

The Sanctions Buster

Illustration: BIRN

Slobodan Tesic is reputedly one of the biggest arms traders in the Balkans. He is also one of the most controversial in the region, having been the subject of UN sanctions over violations of embargoes on weapons exports to Liberia for the best part of a decade.

Slobodan Tesic, who the US in December put on a blacklist of alleged human rights abusers and people involved in corrupt activities around the world, has hired lobbing company Sonoran Policy Group Inc in a bid to get his name removed from the list.

After the US on Thursday placed arms dealer Slobodan Tesic on a global blacklist among a host of figures named as human rights abusers and corrupt actors, and after calling him "one of the biggest arms dealers in the Balkans", Serbia's Ministry of Trade said it will take such sanctions into account.

Slobodan Tesic, described as "the biggest dealers of arms and munitions in the Balkans", is among 39 individuals and entities on whom the US imposed sanctions on Thursday.