The Ambassador of the United States of America, Christopher Hill, is leaving Serbia soon. What traces did he leave in Serbian politics? How will we remember this ambassador?
In the last days of his second ambassadorial mandate in Serbia, Christopher Hill he visits everyone in turn - from the patriarch to the prime minister.
After the meeting with the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porfiri, the outgoing American ambassador met on Monday with Prime Minister Miloš Vučević and the President of the National Assembly Ana Brnabić, underlining once again that he provides full support to the government representatives of the Serbian Progressive Party.
Election theft, the rapid decline of basic democratic values, countless civil protests, Hill rarely commented, and when he did, he carefully chose his words in favor of the current government.
Leaving the Arena
His last days as an ambassador were marked by an incident in the "Belgrade Arena": after the insults directed at him by Red Star fans, he left the facility as quickly as possible.
At halftime of the match of the 21st round of the Euroleague between Red Star and Fenerbahce, he left the hall after about 50 supporters of the red and white came to the box from which he was watching the match, Beta agency reports.
The fans chanted "Kosovo is Serbia", insulted Hill with a derogatory song and gestured.
In front of the box where Hill was sitting, the fans put up a flag with the inscription "Kosovo is Serbia".
The closer to America, the further from Russia
Assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Stevan Nedeljković, says that Ambassador Hill's mandate will be remembered for the improvement of Serbian-American relations, Serbia's distance from Russia, as well as the lack of criticism of the current government in Serbia.
"Relations between the USA and Serbia improved a lot during Christopher Hill's tenure." This was primarily reflected in the economy, especially in the service sector. Relations between the institutions of the two countries are also better, so Serbia now has a diplomat in the State Department, and the Strategic Dialogue with the United States in the field of energy has been signed," explains Nedeljković.
In addition, it can be noted that the current government in Serbia made a significant turn in foreign policy, and reduced the level of political flirting with Russia and turned towards the West. The walling off from Russia, although partly rooted in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, is to some extent Hill's merit.
"Serbia has distanced itself from Russia in the last couple of years and many think it is because of the war in Ukraine." However, this is also a consequence of the intensive action of Ambassador Hill in that field", says Nedeljković.
The lack of criticism towards the Serbian authorities could definitely be seen in the addresses of this ambassador, although such an approach is not characteristic of American diplomats.
"The absence of criticism towards the government became particularly visible in the second part of his mandate. If you ask me, the reason for that was pure pragmatism", concludes Nedeljković.
Serbia is going in the right direction.
The US ambassador in Belgrade ends his mandate with the assessment that Serbia is going in the right direction, and that the relations between the two countries are moving forward, which met with strong reactions from the opposition.
"I feel encouraged, I'm sure I'll get hate messages because of this, but I think Serbia is going in the right direction." "You have to compare yourself to other countries to understand why I believe you're going in the right direction," Hill said.
Hill on the attack of Djilas
Criticism of Hill's account most often came from the opposition ranks, namely from the president of the Freedom and Justice Party, Dragan Đilas, who recently sent him an open letter.
In the letter, he assessed that Hill "turns a blind eye to what the regime is doing in Serbia" because of the operations of American companies in Serbia and the export of ammunition to Ukraine.
"For weeks, those who are the future of Serbia have been blocking their faculties, even though the government accuses them of being under the influence of foreign intelligence services, even though the BIA invites them to talks, even though the president of the country threatens them that his security will abort them in a few seconds, and at all Hill said that Serbia is going in the right direction," said Đilas.
Đilas told Hill that no one hates him, but that he disappointed a part of Serbia that believed that ambassadors and politicians coming from developed democratic countries would want the same for Serbia.
"You say that you don't know where you and your wife Julie, who, in an unknown capacity, sometimes attended the meetings you had and praised Aleksandar Vučić, will live this year, but Serbia will be in your heart. Someone malicious would send you a message in your pocket, Mr. Ambassador", are the final words of the letter.
From Dragan Đilas, Hill received an open letter in September last year as well. Then Hill said that he was protesting against lithium mining, a step backwards on Serbia's European path, and Đilas accused him of being on the "payroll of Aleksandar Vučić".
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