Vučić appointed former military intelligence chief as ambassador to Russia days before resigning

By decree signed by Aleksandar Vučić, Dragan Vladisavljević has been appointed Serbia’s new ambassador to the Russian Federation, as the newspaper Danas reports, citing the Official Gazette. The decision is dated September 25 — just two days before Vučić resigned as president on September 27, according to Danas.

Vladisavljević had previously been withdrawn from the post of Serbia’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, where he served from May 2021. In Moscow he replaces Momčilo Babić, who was also withdrawn from duty earlier this month — a detail Danas links to the restructuring of Belgrade’s diplomatic missions.

His name is not unknown to the Serbian public. Vladisavljević was for two years the director of the Military Intelligence Agency (VOA), but in 2014 he was dismissed together with the director of the Military Security Service (VBA), Svetko Kovač, Danas writes. The media at the time reported that the public was not informed of the reasons for the dismissal; it came on the eve of the campaign for the March 2014 elections, in which Vučić became prime minister.

Born in 1962 in Lapovo, Vladisavljević has a long military career: he was a pilot, completed the air academy and staff school, served as defense attaché in Turkey from 2005 to 2009, deputy director of the VOA in 2009 and then its director from 2012 to 2014, when he retired. From 2015 to 2021 he headed the Serbian Government’s Office for negotiations with Pristina, Danas recalls.