On the Same Street — Both a Party and a Proxy

On May 15, 2025, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić officially signed the protocol confirming his membership in the newly established political movement "For the People and the State" and announced a major assembly in Niš scheduled for May 17.

The Party and Its Legacy

"Pokret za narod i državu" was registered on March 28, 2025, as a non-profit organization located at Šejkina 12, Zvezdara, Belgrade. The official representative listed in the APR registry is Tijana Nikolić. The organization’s statute declares its goals as "raising awareness of the importance of the state and national sovereignty, striving for progress and modern governance, and promoting national culture and education."

Neighbors on Šejkina 12

As revealed by N1 in an article dated April 3, 2025, the same private house at Šejkina 12 was also the registered address of four other political movements:

• "Pokret za narod"
• "Pokret za budućnost Srbije"
• "Pokret za Srbiju budućnosti"
• "Pokret za Srbiju"

alongside commercial entities Rent-a-brand, ML Fortklift, and Bluetech Technology (now in liquidation). All these associations share the same statute and the same legal representative — Tijana Nikolić, while the house itself is owned by Aleksandar Nikolić.

N1 writes: "Five movements and three companies, one of which has already been removed from the APR register, share the same address in the Belgrade neighborhood of Mirijevo. This would not be suspicious if it weren’t a private house — and if this wasn’t precisely the address where, on Friday, the association 'Pokret za narod i državu' was registered, bearing the same name President Vučić had mentioned back in 2023 when announcing the formation of a movement that would serve as a 'pillar, a foundation, and a base for preserving the country during the next two or three crisis years.'"

Sprocure: From "For the People and the State" to Sanctions

As your humble author wrote yesterday, "Belgrade has found itself in the crossfire between Brussels and Moscow. The 17th package of EU sanctions, set to take effect on May 20, explicitly mentions Serbian companies suspected of supplying resources to the Russian military."

Later that evening, N1 reported the name of one such Serbian company potentially targeted by the sanctions: Sprocure.

N1 sarcastically noted: "Based on its registered activity — 'intermediary trade in various goods' — it’s hard to see why a company with a single employee and annual revenue of €1,422,682 would find itself in the crosshairs of the new EU sanctions package against Russia."

According to Radio Free Europe, Sprocure, which has now been sanctioned under the 17th EU package, sent 170 shipments of aircraft parts to Russia worth over $9.7 million between mid-2022 and the end of 2023. These shipments, EU officials say, may have helped circumvent embargoes and justified Sprocure’s inclusion on the sanctions list.

As The Insider reported in 2024, in an investigation on how Russian oligarchs procure parts for their private jets: "Last year, Lukoil-Avia imported a shut-off valve for the Bombardier air conditioning system made in France by Liebherr. The sender was Sprocure, a Serbian company. The same firm from Belgrade also supplies Alekperov with Goodyear aircraft tires (USA) and cabin lights from Heads Up Technologies (USA)."

The ultimate irony is that Sprocure d.o.o. was founded in August 2022 right next door at Šejkina 44ž — "in the same neighborhood where the 'For the People and the State' movements are located." In January 2024, the company became 100% owned by Turkish national Erdal Ilhan and changed its legal address to Ljubana Jednaka Street 1, while maintaining the same business activity (“intermediary trade in various goods”).

What could be more ironic than the fact that five political movements, including "For the People and the State," are headquartered on Šejkina 12, while just a few doors down operates a logistics hub considered by the EU to be "an enabler" of the Kremlin’s war machine? Political fiction? No — this is the real-life absurdity in central Belgrade.

Additionally, RSE reported today that Affinity Partners, the investment company owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, announced uncertainty regarding the future of its "Belgrade Square" project — a half-billion-dollar luxury hotel development on the site of the former Yugoslav General Staff building in Belgrade. The reason: falsified documentation uncovered during the arrest of Goran Vasić.

Sasvim slučajno se našavši u nizu svih gore navedenih događaja ovih dana, gotovo istog dana kada je objavljen 17. paket sankcija, Goran Vasić, vršilac dužnosti direktora Zavoda za zaštitu spomenika kulture, uhapšen je 13. maja pod sumnjom da je falsifikovao dokumentaciju na osnovu koje je Vlada Srbije ukinula status kulturnog dobra zgradi Generalštaba. Taj potez je, kako tvrde kritičari, raščistio pravnu pozornicu za realizaciju projekta Affinity Partners.

According to NOVA, Vasić’s predecessor, Dubravka Đukanović, resigned as director of the Institute on June 4, 2023, after refusing to bow to political pressure from top officials — including Finance Minister Siniša Mali. Her resignation marked the first public indication that the removal of the General Staff building’s protected status was part of a broader political maneuver, not a routine technical procedure.

NOVA also reports that during questioning, Goran Vasić admitted to falsification. According to attorney Ivan Ninić, who spoke to NOVA, it is clear that Vasić was not a "solo player" in this affair, but rather part of a broader scheme involving both institutional and external actors.

As The Independent noted in a May 16, 2024 report, Serbian authorities officially approved the project proposed by Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

On a related note, according to reports from May 3, 2025, in pro-government media, President Vučić fell ill during his visit to the U.S. and decided to return to Belgrade after consulting doctors. Despite official statements citing sudden health issues, Vučić did not attend a single scheduled meeting during his two-day stay in Florida — except for a conversation with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. 

According to NOVA.rs, the visit was considered a complete diplomatic failure: the Serbian delegation was disinvited from the Republican National Committee gala dinner, and all other high-level meetings were either canceled or never arranged.