Was Veljko Popara, the former assistant chief of the Criminal Police Department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, spying for the American secret services or is he the victim of a political conspiracy? As things stand, citizens will probably never get a decisive answer to this question, as well as to the question of who are the Russians who were deported last week because of their actions towards Montenegro. Intelligence and counterintelligence games are by their nature secretive, but the way the Popara case has been presented to the public raises more questions than it clears up.
The first information that something was happening in the police was released in the middle of last month, when "Večernje Novosti", without revealing the source or any details, announced that a high-ranking police official had been arrested for spying on behalf of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). ). As no new information appeared during the following days, this story was "silent", until Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić brought it back to life, during the now famous press conference held on Monday, October 24.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CIA?: At that conference, which was mostly devoted to the events in Montenegro, Vučić confirmed that a spy had been discovered at the top of the UKP, who revealed to the Americans that everyone in Serbia was being monitored and eavesdropped by the police. "Proceedings are currently being conducted, which means that we have all the truth, the only question is whether the prosecutor will judge that the case is custodial or not." But I don't think detention is important, but the completion of the proceedings," he said at the time. Vučić did not mention the name of the alleged spy, but it appeared in the tabloids the very next day, as well as his position: Veljko Popara, until recently assistant to the head of the Administration.
In the following days, the tabloids wrote that Popara had been spying for the Americans for months and that he was caught trying to hand over a USB stick with information from the MUP to an American diplomat. It was stated that Popara, trying to avoid being escorted, changed means of transport, changed clothes in haustors and wore a wig, but that the operatives still escorted him to Zemunski Park, where the handover was supposed to take place. However, no one stated which American diplomat it was and what happened to him (it is interesting that the word CIA disappeared from the news reports). The American ambassador in Belgrade, Kyle Scott, denied that he knew anything about the affair, which is in accordance with the diplomatic custom of not commenting on intelligence affairs.
What immediately caught everyone's eyes is that Veljko Popara was not detained and not even suspended, but transferred to the analytical department of the Belgrade SUP. In addition, there is no information that any employee of the American embassy has recently been declared an undesirable person, as is usually done in such situations.
AMERICANS IN BELGRADE: Information about Popara's career so far only raises new questions. Namely, we are talking about a man whose job description included cooperation with foreign police, and who not only attended numerous training courses in Europe and America, but also held them himself and received praise for it. In January of last year, "Večernje Novosti" published the news about a successfully held exercise called "Trappers 2014" organized by Europol, the police agency of the European Union, in which the police of eleven countries chased a fictitious group of international drug traffickers. In that news, Popara is mentioned as one of the main coordinators of that exercise and it is stated that thanks to him, the MUP of Serbia received flattering marks from foreign colleagues.
It is also known that Popara was considered one of the best domestic experts in undetectable surveillance and that he wrote a textbook on it, as well as that before becoming the assistant chief of the UKP, he worked in the Observation Department. Therefore, the question arises as to why a man who normally communicates with foreigners on a daily basis would have to meet his foreign "relationship" in parks. And immediately after that: would a person with such qualifications miss having an escort and would try to get rid of her by means of amateur tricks with a wig and changing clothes according to the haustors. People who understand this business say that to successfully follow a person, when it is done professionally, ten to fifteen operatives are needed and that then it is practically impossible for the person being followed, even when he notices that he is under surveillance, to escape.
Sources from the Ministry of Interior, who for understandable reasons want to remain anonymous, say that the stories that Popara spied on his own service at the expense of the Americans are implausible, but allow the possibility that he inadvertently overstepped some boundaries, so as part of the exchange of information he gave information that he did not should be shared. The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), namely, has several liaison officers at the embassy in Belgrade, whose primary task is to cooperate with the domestic police (and the police of some neighboring countries) in suppressing the threat of international terrorism and organized crime. The person to whom Popara gave the information is probably one of them. The statement of the Minister of Police, Nebojša Stefanović, that Popara did not work for money, but asked the Americans for favors in the form of support for advancement in the service, also fits into this theory.
MANUSCRIPT OF THE AUTHORITIES: "If Popara was really a spy, don't you think he would not have been detained in Ustanička (the seat of the Special Court) or Banjica (the seat of the Security and Information Agency) for a long time?", says the source of "Vremena". The same source claims that this affair was wrapped up because Popara was considered to be a man close to Rodoljub Milović, the former head of the UKP, who, according to general opinion, was removed from that position because he fell out of political favor, and not because of any lapse in service. Milović was also accused of all possible abuses by the same tabloids that wrote about Popara's wig, but no disciplinary proceedings were ever initiated against him, let alone criminal charges.
"The story about Popara is a classic spin," Milović told the weekly "Ekspres", at the same time denying tabloid stories that he himself was blackmailed and recruited by the Americans for allegedly ordering the liquidation of Dušan Spasojević and Mile Luković in Meljak during Operation "Saber". ".
Why was it necessary for Vučić to turn something that is, at worst, a disciplinary offense into a spy affair with international implications? Because it already belongs to the recognizable handwriting of this government, which is not satisfied with simply putting politically unfit persons aside, but before that it ritually covers them with mud and the most difficult possible qualifications. And then, after the expulsion of at least two Russians who tampered with the Montenegrin elections in Serbia (we were not told with whom and what), it was necessary to show everyone that we are keeping an equidistance, so we fight with the same ferocity with eastern and western spies. Popara, to his misfortune, conveniently set himself up as collateral damage.
