Vučić ally adds fuel to the fire as ‘Serbian World’ doctrine sparks tensions

Just hours after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić denied the existence of the “Serbian World” project, his closest ally, Aleksandar Vulin, declared the opposite.

“The unification of all Serbs cannot be stopped. Bulgarians should light candles and remain silent,” Vulin stated, as quoted by BGNES on Wednesday (5 November).

The remarks came in direct response to Bulgarian President Rumen Radev’s appeal to European institutions to address the regional risks posed by the “Serbian World” doctrine.

Bulgaria’s President urges EU to take seriously the threat from the “Serbian World” doctrine

“Before I was removed as director of the BIA (Serbia’s security agency), we halted Bulgaria’s efforts to distribute textbooks in Serbia that claimed eastern Serbia as Bulgarian territory and labelled the Toplica rebels as bandits. We arrested a Bulgarian spy and dismantled their network. President Radev hasn’t forgotten that,” Vulin said.

He continued: “Let the Bulgarians stay silent—we have not yet counted all the Serbian children slaughtered by Bulgarian occupiers during the two world wars. Before mentioning Serbs, light a candle and beg forgiveness for Surdulica, Toplica, Bojnik, Dragovac, and Kriva Reka. Only then may you speak our name.”

These towns in southern Serbia’s Toplica District were sites of Bulgarian occupation and reprisals during World War I (1915–1918), following Bulgaria’s invasion as a Central Powers ally.

Vulin insisted the “Serbian World” is an inevitable reality.

“The unification has begun. It cannot be stopped,” he declared.

Vučić’s contradiction in Brussels

BGNES recalls Vučić’s own words in Brussels, where he dismissed the concept entirely:

“Maybe they have a ‘Bulgarian World’ – I don’t know. But we have no ‘Serbian World,’ neither as doctrine nor policy. I’ve never used the term except to deny it – at least 20 times. Yet it suits them to invent this scarecrow to justify their anti-Serbian policies.”

He accused Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo and Albania of using the phrase to rationalize a potential anti-Serbian military alliance.

“The problem is when you build that justification on lies,” Vučić added.

Vulin: a Kremlin favorite under Western sanctions

Aleksandar Vulin—recently Serbia’s deputy prime minister—has been repeatedly honored by the Kremlin and personally decorated by Vladimir Putin for his pro-Russian loyalty. He faces U.S. and UK sanctions for destabilizing the Balkans and alleged involvement in serious criminal activities.

Vulin openly supports Serbia joining BRICS and recently helped establish the Russian Historical Society in Serbia, where he chairs the Council of Representatives.

In May 2021, while serving as Interior Minister, Vulin oversaw Serbian police operations that wiretapped a private meeting in Belgrade of prominent Russian dissidents, including Vladimir Kara-Murza (a journalist and activist later imprisoned in Russia), Andrei Pivovarov (a former opposition politician), and lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov.

The gathering, organized under the guise of a seminar, focused on anti-Kremlin strategies and human rights.

Just two days after the meeting, Vulin travelled to Moscow and reportedly handed transcripts of the intercepted conversations directly to Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a key figure in the Kremlin’s security apparatus.

This intelligence-sharing allegedly enabled Russian authorities to act swiftly: Pivovarov was arrested at St. Petersburg airport in late May 2021, shortly after the transcripts were delivered, on fabricated charges of extremism. Kara-Murza’s 2022 poisoning and subsequent arrest on treason charges (he was sentenced to 25 years in 2023) were also linked by him to the leaked information, which he claimed provided Moscow with insights into opposition networks.

Serbia remains Russia’s closest Balkan ally and the only EU candidate country refusing to impose sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine – a stance highlighted in the latest European Commission reports.