Novi Magazin: Institute for Protection of Monuments director resigns over ex-military HQ

“The Director of the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Dr Dubravka Djukanovic, was summoned on Saturday by the Ministry of Economy for a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Sinisa Mali. At that meeting, she was told that she must either remove the protection from the General Staff building or resign. She was given until Monday to think about it, but she immediately said that she would resign,” a source told Novi Magazin.

The Ministry of Culture received her resignation of Wednesday, while the appointment of a person willing to do whatever necessary to remove the status of protected cultural property from the General Staff building should be appointed to this position on Thursday, Novi Magazin reported.

The Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure said that Minister Goran Vesic signed on May 15, on behalf of the Serbian Government, an “Agreement on Revitalization of the Complex of the Former Federal Secretariat for National Defense,” the so-called General Staff building in central Belgrade, with the company Affinity Global Development.

“The Serbian Government has chosen a reputable American company as a partner in this venture, which will invest in the revitalization of the former Federal Secretariat for National Defense complex,” said Vesic.

A day later, The New York Times reported that the Serbian Government approved a contract with Jared Kushner on plans to build a luxury hotel on the site of the former defense ministry in Belgrade, putting him directly into business with a European state as his father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, vies to return to the White House.

It added that Kushner is pursuing the $500 million hotel project in partnership with Richard Grenell, Trump’s former special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo.