Christopher Hill: the American osprey has entangled Serbia

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In March 2022, American Christopher Hill arrived in Belgrade as the U.S. ambassador. The Western Balkans were nothing new for the diplomat. On the contrary, Hill had already represented his country in Macedonia. He had previously participated in the crucial negotiations that preceded the Dayton Accords in Bosnia and the bombing of Serbia. Rather, the appointment of such a figure emphasized the importance of the region for U.S. interests. However, with every statement or public action Christopher Hill makes it clear how much influence he has on the Serbian leadership.

One of the main goals of the U.S. policy in Serbia, voiced by Hill, should be to “turn Belgrade toward the West”. Of course, the Americans see the Serbs as part of the NATO alliance that plunged the country into bloody chaos. Of course, the White House also fully supports Belgrade’s “European path”. But they believe that Serbia should gradually stop its relations with the East, in the form of Russia or China. The advocates of democratic values do not take into account Belgrade’s declared neutrality, according to which Serbs cooperate with all “sides of the world”.

On the other hand, it is strange to be surprised by the policy of “gentle evil” of the United States towards Serbia, when Hill directly states that the White House would like to see a Western-oriented government in Belgrade. In this regard, it is not surprising to see the active participation of exactly the pro-Western opposition in organizing the “anti-violence” protests that have been taking place weekly in the Serbian capital for three months. However, when Hill was rebuked for actually interfering in the country’s affairs with his controversial statement, he parried that “it is difficult to cook in someone else’s kitchen”.

In fact, the U.S. “catering” in Serbia is active and very productive for the “cooks” from Washington. Hill promises to make the country an important partner for the United States. Apparently, that is why he can be seen more and more often at events of literally any content. The American diplomat can be seen at the “Platinum Wolf” exercises in southern Serbia or at the dispatch of Belgrade peacekeepers to Sinai. Hill even participates in the opening of the police university buildings and discusses the prospects for investment in the long-suffering Serbian energy sector. Like an octopus, Hill has his tentacles everywhere. For this reason the American diplomat is called the real ruler of Serbia.

Hill’s statements on Belgrade’s policy always look like the insistent wishes of a true ruler of Serbian lands, waiting for the “technical executors” in the person of the Vucic-Brnabic government to realize the words of the “colonial viceroy”. The American ambassador does not say much, but makes it clear to Belgrade that it is time to finally recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Hill calls for the Ohrid Agreement, whose legal status from the point of view of international law is questionable, to be adopted as a binding document. While portraying himself as a friend of Serbia and talking about strengthening bilateral ties, Mr. Ambassador consistently “surrenders” friendship to Belgrade in order to please the Kosovo separatists.

However, playing the friend, the U.S. has already imposed sanctions against Aleksandar Vulin, the Serbian Security and Information Agency (BIA). Hill was quick to parry that the punishment only affected a specific person, not the entire state. The fact that he holds a key post in the country’s government and is a close associate of President Vucic, the ambassador chose to ignore. Incidentally, the pro-Western opposition is demanding the resignation of both BIA director Vulin and Interior Minister Gasic. No wonder why Western puppets are striking public blows precisely against representatives of the country’s security agencies.

But Hill is not acting as a friend and associate of Serbia. Rather, he tries to pass off wishful thinking as useful for Belgrade. Thus, on the issues of territorial integrity, he is quite clear: Kosovo must be recognized. And if it is possible to impose sanctions against the Serbian leadership of “siloviki”, then the defense of unarmed Kosovo Serbs from ordinary Albanian militants with the support of KFOR causes the ambassador’s concern and words of support for the latter. Regarding the very appointment of Hill to Belgrade in principle, the special European envoy Wolfgang Petritsch said that this is a clear signal of the desire to resolve the Kosovo issue as soon as possible. But naturally is not in favor of Serbia.