Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić was admitted to a military hospital in Belgrade on Saturday after cutting short a visit to the United States, his office said, without giving a reason.
Vučić’s hospitalisation comes as he has been facing a months-long, widespread protest movement following a deadly accident at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad.
The Serbian president “was admitted to the Military Medical Academy immediately after landing” in Belgrade, his office said.
It said it would release more detailed information on Vučić’s health “in good time”.
Vučić had said he was to meet Trump twice, but cut short his trip after feeling unwell on consultation with a doctor, Serbian broadcaster RTS reported.
Vučić, elected president in 2017 following three years as prime minister, was hospitalised in 2019 for heart issues.
“Fiasco”
Vučić is facing down a wave of demonstrations sparked by the roof collapse at the Novi Sad train station in November 2024, which killed 16 people.
Many in the Balkan nation blame the collapse on chronic corruption and a lack of oversight over construction projects.
Opposition figures said Vučić’s trip was a failure since he did not meet Trump as planned.
“He’s covering up his fiasco with a story about a sudden health problem forcing him to rush back to Belgrade. There are no medicines in pharmacies in America,” quipped Zdravko Ponoš, leader of the centrist Srce party and a fierce critic of Vučić.
The announcement also casts doubt over Vučić’s promised visit to Serbia’s traditional ally Russia for celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe on 9 May.
Vučić said on Thursday that he would keep his word to Vladimir Putin and join around 20 world leaders travelling to Moscow for the occasion, commemorated with great pomp and an army parade on Red Square.
But the trip to visit Putin would risk the wrath of the European Union, which Serbia wishes to join, and which has sanctioned Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
(om)
