Retired general warns of fallout from US freeze of cooperation with BIA

Retired General Momir Stojanovic told the Nova daily newspaper that the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) will not get important information from US intelligence agencies.

N1 reported on Friday that Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic was told by US Ambassador Christopher Hill that US cooperation with the BIA would be frozen because of personnel choices.

According to Stojanovic, BIA cooperation with American agencies was good under former agency chief Bratislav Gasic. “He realized that he did not know the job and things were done by experts and professionals and now (Aleksandar) Vulin wants to hold everything in his hands. The US is a serious state and does not want to risk anything,” the general said.

He said that US agencies acquire a wealth of information in their battle against international terrorism which Serbia’s two agencies (military and civilian) received through exchanges. “We will not be getting that now,” he said adding that Washington is concerned that any information made available to Serbia would be accessible to Russia because of Vulin’s contacts with Moscow’s security services.

Vulin was accused by Russian opposition politicians of handing recordings of their meeting in Belgrade to security service officials in Moscow.