The raids on critical civil society organizations earlier this week are merely the culmination of the spillover of the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID into Serbia’s daily politics. Since the current US president ordered a radical shift in foreign aid policy, Serbian authorities have seized the opportunity to significantly distort information about USAID spending, which was presented to the American public, and artificially “shove” it into the narrative of foreign efforts to overthrow the government.
With Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States, major changes began in both foreign and domestic policy. On the domestic front, the most visible are the activities of Elon Musk, who is leading the fight against “waste, fraud, and abuse” of the state budget through radical cuts to the state administration.
One of the first casualties of Musk’s reform zeal was the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which he called “criminal” on his social media platform X and stated that “it must die.” Soon, officials from the US administration began presenting examples, from their point of view, of wasteful spending of American taxpayers’ money on projects that, primarily ideologically, do not align with the vision of the current administration. Two projects that were implemented in Serbia were mentioned.
The first project was mentioned by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt and concerned 1,5 million dollars for promoting DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) in workplaces in Serbia. The second project, mentioned by several officials, including President Trump himself, was related to improving public procurement in Serbia and amounted to 14 million dollars.
As journalist Aleksandar Milošević posted on his X account, the project related to improving public procurement was carried out not only by civil society organizations and media, but also by state institutions of the Republic of Serbia – the State Audit Institution, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Assembly. There are no public details about the implementation of the DEI project in Serbian workplaces, but the content of the project does not appear to threaten the security or stability of the country.
None of this stopped media outlets close to the government and state officials from constructing a narrative about money coming into Serbia with the intention of overthrowing the government. They were unconstrained from the fact that, until recently, President Aleksandar Vučić, Speaker of the National Assembly Ana Brnabić, and numerous other ministers from the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) had worked closely with USAID and often praised its activities in Serbia.
The project for public procurement aimed to overthrow the government?
As reported last week by the portal Raskrikavanje, Informer, the most influential pro-government tabloid, published an article on 20 February titled, “America Interfered in Elections in Serbia! Trump Reveals Shocking Information: Millions Spent to Change the Government!” The article states that Trump, speaking at an event in Miami, mentioned the public procurement reform project in Serbia worth 14 million dollars as one of the examples of irrational spending of American money. He then, while listing projects, came to a 21-million-dollar project aimed at increasing voter turnout in India.
“What do we need to spend 21 million for voter turnout in India? Wow, 21 million… I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government,” Trump commented.
In its article, Informer linked Trump’s interpretation of the USAID project related to elections in India with the fact that he had previously mentioned the public procurement reform project in Serbia, and from this, it concluded that the United States wanted to “overthrow the government” in Serbia.
This narrative did not remain confined to pro-government tabloids. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić used it during an appearance on Insajder TV on 20 February.
“Donald Trump directly mentioned Serbia yesterday, the President of the United States directly mentioned Serbia as a place where they wanted a political change of government. Those who gave American money to overthrow the government, (wanted this)”, Vučić said on that occasion.
Inventing what was not said
Another similar narrative was recently used by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ana Brnabić. At a press conference on 23 February, she stated that Serbia had once again become the “star” of foreign media, which were reporting how much money had flowed into Serbia “specifically for the purpose of destabilizing and overthrowing Aleksandar Vučić and the democratically elected government.”
“To hear on Piers Morgan’s show that someone earned 400,000 dollars a year in the NGO sector in the Republic of Serbia just to work on overthrowing Aleksandar Vučić, well, congratulations. They really made a lot of money. Thank God, they didn’t succeed,” said Ana Brnabić.
In this statement, she referred to the YouTube show of the British journalist Piers Morgan, aired on 11 February, based on which media outlets close to the government once again artificially created a narrative about the overthrow of the government. In the episode, political commentator Ashley St. Clair, supporting the activities of the Trump administration, mentioned the project of promoting DEI in Serbian workplaces in her reaction to the domestic criticism of shutting down of the USAID.
“A lot of people are upset because, guess what, they are gonna leave the federal government and they’re gonna actually have to acquire marketable skills and work for a living… These people are making obscene amounts of money, they are in the top 5 percent of earners, running these NGOs that are being funneled through USAID, and making 400,000 dollars a year to disperse DEI in Serbia. It’s insane,” said Ashley St. Clair.
Although clearly very critical of USAID, St. Clair did not accuse organizations in Serbia of overthrowing the government or destabilizing the country. Furthermore, it is clear that the figure of 400,000 dollars she mentioned referred to the salaries of those working for USAID within the US federal government, not individuals in Serbia.
However, this statement was distorted in media outlets close to the Serbian government. First, as reported by Alo and Večernje novosti, it was made to appear that people in Serbia, not employees of the US government, were receiving 400,000 dollars annually. Then, the purpose of the money received by organizations in Serbia was altered – it was no longer for dispersing DEI in workplaces, but for “destabilizing Serbia.”
Thus, the full headline in Večernje novosti read: “PEOPLE IN SERBIA WERE PAID 400,000 DOLLARS A YEAR.” The journalist uncovered the dirty money flows through USAID to destabilize our country, while the opening paragraph stated, “that more people in Serbia were earning 400,000 dollars a year through NGOs funded by USAID.”
This kind of reporting by government-friendly media, as well as statements from the highest state officials, served as a convenient preparation for the public ahead of the raid on civil society organizations, under the pretext of assisting US authorities in investigating alleged misuse of USAID funds. No one from Washington requested this assistance, nor was any specific reason provided for suspecting that any civil society organization had misused the agency’s funds.
The information coming from the US, where new political winds are blowing, seems to be too good an opportunity for the authorities to settle scores with critics to be passed up, even though the facts are not on their side. In this, they may be put in an awkward position by the abundance of traces of money that government bodies, including those conducting the investigation, have received from USAID, which has recently surfaced in the public.