Blagojevich: Trump to change US approach to Serbia

BELGRADE - In an interview with Tanjug, Rod Blagojevich - one of US President Donald Trump's closest aides - said Trump's return to power would bring a new US foreign policy approach to Serbia as well as create an opportunity for a strategic partnership between the two countries, largely because Serbia had been experiencing economic growth under President Aleksandar Vucic.

"I am really amazed how Serbia has changed since the last time I've been here," said Blagojevich, who last visited Serbia in May 1999, during the NATO bombing.

He noted that, at the time, the US and NATO had violated "the territorial integrity of a sovereign country", "taking away a part of a sovereign country without UN approval."

He said he was amazed by what Vucic had been able to do and "turn this country around" to make it a "country on the move, on the rise".

"Vucic reminds me a lot of Trump. There are two types of politicians - this I know from my experience: the ones who do fancy speeches and go around giving talks and promising all kinds of things but are really not interested in solving any problems or getting anything done. And then there are the doers, there are presidents like Trump and Vucic, who do not care about fancy speeches - they care about results," Blagojevich said.

"So they (Trump and Vucic) are really, in many ways, made for each other, and I both hope and think they are going to get together and, I hope, not only form an alliance but, I think, form a very strong personal relationship, because I know this about President Trump: he likes people who are like him, and the two of them are really much alike."

Asked about Trump's opinion of the Serbs, Blagojevich said that, at a meeting with Serbian Americans, Trump had "expressed how strong the Serbian people are and how they are fighters."

"That is how he sees the Serbs, and that is why there is this great opportunity to develop these relationships between our two countries, because President Trump really admires fighters," he added.

Noting that Trump was changing the US policy towards Serbia, Blagojevich said the policies of Democrat US presidents had been "anti-Serbian."

"They were all for Kosovo and all for some of the other places but for Serbia, and their hostility was expressed in things like USAID and how they spent and wasted American taxpayer dollars to try to involve themselves and interfere in domestic politics in places like Serbia. Those days are over. Trump has changed that already and he is going to change foreign policy in a more dramatic way," Blagojevich noted.

Speaking about Kosovo-Metohija, he said he believed that Richard Grenell being a "leading figure" in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue was "only good news for the Serbs and a great opportunity to have things change regarding American policy on Serbia and Kosovo."

He noted that the Kurti government's treatment of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and Kosovska Mitrovica was "a form of ethnic cleansing."

He said the Serbs were being harassed by Pristina as Kurti's objective was "to kick the Serbs out of Kosovo."

"And with that explained to the policy leaders - and they are already getting to know this - and when President Trump is given a chance to take a breath and focus on this part of the world, with Richard Grenell being where he is and having the influence that he has with the president, I think the Serbs have a great reason to be hopeful about changes regarding the persecuted Serbs," Blagojevich said.

Speaking about Serbia-US relations, he said he was not only hoping for a new US foreign policy approach to Serbia but that he was also able to "envision the possibility of a strategic partnership between our two countries," largely because Serbia was seeing economic growth and because the US had a president who believed relationships were not established through wars, but through the economy and partnerships.

"I think there is an opportunity for America to see Serbia in the Balkans as we see Israel in the Middle East," Blagojevich said.