Richard Grenell has already served as Trump’s man for the Balkans, while his son-in-law Jared Kushner has long been handling Trump’s business in the region. Former governor Rod Blagojevich is now being mentioned as a possible United States (U.S.) ambassador.
Rod “Blago” Blagojevich is a figure with an unusual background, even by Donald Trump’s standards. Last week, it was reported that Trump is considering appointing this former Democratic governor of Illinois as the U.S. ambassador to Belgrade. Blagojevich, the son of Serbian immigrants, was removed from office in 2009 and sentenced three years later to 14 years in prison for corruption.
During his first term, Trump commuted his sentence, leading to his release in 2020. This, according to Professor Daniel Serwer, a Balkans expert from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University and a former U.S. negotiator for the Balkans under President Bill Clinton, makes him an ideal associate for Trump. Serwer stated: “Blago is the perfect man for Belgrade – a deeply corrupt politician willing to do whatever Trump wants to be rehabilitated.”
Popular among Serbs
In fact, after his removal from office in 2010, Blagojevich participated in Trump’s then-reality show Celebrity Apprentice. Following the Republican convention in May 2024, where Trump was confirmed as the presidential candidate, Blagojevich joined Grenell in the campaign, particularly among American Serb communities, where Trump enjoyed strong support, just as he did among nationalist Serbian politicians in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Kosovo.
In the spring of 2024, five U.S. businessmen of Serbian origin attended a reception at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, including Ranko Ristic, founder of Zastava Arms USA, the exclusive importer of firearms from Serbia’s Zastava Arms to the U.S. During the event, Trump, according to Ristic, introduced Blagojevich as a “great friend” and “close associate.” Ristic also stated that he told Trump how “Serbs in BiH had to defend themselves from 3.000 mujahideen during the 1991-1995 war.”
Blagojevich met last week with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. In the media, he sharply criticized Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti, accusing him of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Serbs in Kosovo. While in Belgrade, Blagojevich explicitly apologized to Vucic for U.S. involvement in the Kosovo war and NATO’s 1999 airstrikes. “My country did something terrible to your country during the 1990s,” said the potential Trump ambassador to Serbia to Vucic. “It is no different from what Russia is doing in Ukraine… President Trump will work on improving relations between our countries.”
Opponents of Kosovo’s leadership
Trump’s close associate Richard Grenell has also repeatedly criticized Kurti. The day before Trump’s inauguration, he met with Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo’s former prime minister and Kurti’s political rival, who later posted on X that “it is not good for Kosovo” if Kurti remains in power. In 2020, Kurti angered Grenell by rejecting a territorial exchange between Kosovo and Serbia, which had been proposed by the U.S. envoy.
Although these changes favor Vucic, the mass protests that have shaken Serbia since November 2023 have further intensified his radical rhetoric on Kosovo – likely as a way to divert attention from domestic problems.
Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric recently said in an interview that Kosovo is “our southern province” and claimed that Serbs in Kosovo are “constantly exposed to discrimination and harassment.” Serbian Army Chief of Staff Milan Mojsilovic stated that Serbian armed forces are ready “to protect Serbs and other non-Albanians in the territory of our southern province.”
Vucic, who previously called Kurti a “terrorist scum,” has now described him in an interview as a “villain” who “hates Serbs.”
BiH is also at stake
Dr. Kurt Bassuener, director of the Berlin-based think tank Democratization Policy Council, warned that it is not only Kosovo’s territorial integrity but also that of BiH that is threatened by Greater Serbian ambitions. The European Union (EU) could respond to Vucic’s aggressive moves by increasing the number of combat troops in the EUFOR/Althea mission.
In this situation, the U.S. “Balkan team” of Grenell-Kushner-Blagojevich would be a gift for Belgrade, providing a direct connection to the White House. The improvement of Serbia-Kosovo relations, already unlikely, would become even more distant. Numerous contacts between Trump’s trio and Serbian authorities, as well as statements and posts by Grenell and Blagojevich in favor of Vucic and against Kurti, indicate ongoing preparations in the U.S.
When Serbian forces attacked NATO and Kosovo security forces in 2023 and then concentrated troops on the Kosovo border, the EU paradoxically responded with sanctions against Kosovo. Only the personal intervention of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and enormous pressure from NATO forced Serbia to withdraw its tanks.
The danger of war
Balkan experts Serwer and Bassuener doubt that the U.S. would militarily stop Vucic’s army in the event of a serious conflict. Serwer also warns that even discussing the partition of Kosovo or Ukraine could encourage Serbian separatists in BiH to take similar actions.
“If that were to happen, BiH would have to respond. And in Kosovo, Javelins would be the best defense,” Serwer said, referring to the U.S. Javelin anti-tank missiles, which were crucial for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion in 2022.
Given the current security situation, the escalation of potential conflicts in the Western Balkans is becoming increasingly likely, N1 writes.
