SERBIA: General Army Building Protest & more – 18th Nov 2025

Dobar dan from BA! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 18th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

Kicking off with an update to a story from previous shows… Dijana Hrka, the mother of the railway station tragedy victim Stefan, has ended her hunger strike after three weeks. Both the students and president Vucic have urged her to end it due to her worsening health. Hrka has since spoken with the president, urging him to schedule new elections, as the government under his rule has not taken significant steps to bring justice to the victims of the tragedy.

Recall that Hrka began her hunger strike on the 2nd of November to protest against the lack of convictions in relation to the railway station tragedy that took place in the northern city of Novi Sad one year ago. The tragedy also sparked mass protests in Serbia against corruption in the country, which citizens have deemed as the main reason behind the canopy’s failure.

Speaking of protests, on Tuesday the 11th students from the University of Belgrade organized a rally against the government’s plan to build a Trump hotel and demolish the former Yugoslav Army General Headquarters. Last week, we reported on the new Lex Specialis law the government had adopted to fast-track the hotel project, with the main investor being Jared Kushner - Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Protesters criticized the law for allowing the contractors to bypass security checks and inspections to speed up the construction of the hotel. They also highlighted the Army General headquarters’ history, namely that it faced demolition during the NATO bombing of Serbia in nineteen ninety-nine, which was called on by the US, adding that it is hurtful to sell it to the US president’s close ally.

In more updates to previous stories, the US announced on Friday the 14th that it wants a complete removal of Russian stakeholders in the Serbian state-owned energy company NIS, which is currently under US sanctions. A quick recap: the US announced sanctions on NIS in January and implemented them in October, due to its majorly Russian ownership, which they deemed problematic as it funds the war in Ukraine.

The Serbian minister of energy said that the task of completely removing Russia from NIS is difficult, underlining that Russian Gazprom owns more than fifty percent of shares in NIS. She added that the US gave Serbia until February to negotiate a change of ownership. The government has always opposed NIS’ nationalization, but with the US sanctions still in place ahead of the heating season, it might not have a choice.

On that note about Russia, the European Commission addressed the growing Serbian citizenship grants to third-country nationals, but mainly Russians. The Commission advised Serbia to start implementing rigorous security checks when granting Serbian citizenship, due to an increase in illegal migration into the EU through Serbia, as the country has visa-free travel benefits. They said that migrants from Russia pose potential security risks for the EU.

In twenty twenty-five alone, Serbia granted around 120 citizenships, of which around eighty were to Russian citizens - compared to ninety last year, showing a trend which was boosted by Russians fleeing the war.

Meanwhile, on Sunday the 16th several pro-government news outlets, including the state-owned Radio Television of Serbia with national coverage, reported on an attack on the army forces in the country’s south. They said that a group of masked Albanians fired fifteen shots at the armed force members, but did not hit anyone, after which they drove away towards Kosovo.

On the other hand, the police in Kosovo called Serbian media outlets out for reporting on the shooting, labeling the news as misinformation. They accused the media of purposefully making up the story in order to increase tensions between Serbians and Albanians.

In other news, the Serbian Parliament elected eight out of nine members of the new Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, or REM, on Wednesday the 12th. The one unfilled seat was supposed to go to the candidate of the national councils of national minorities, but one ruling coalition member party voted against them, so the required unanimity wasn’t achieved.

Two days later, four out of eight elected members resigned from their positions, accusing the ruling coalition of creating a politically engineered REM council that caters to the ruling majority, since that candidate was the only one the ruling coalition knew they could not control.

REM plays a crucial role in regulating, controlling and sanctioning the work of television and radio stations with national coverage. During the mass anti-corruption protests in Serbia, it was revealed that the ruling party was in complete control of the media and REM.

Speaking of controlling the media, our YouTube channel is still up, despite the government trying to silence us. Remember that we had to create a new channel — they took the previous down because we are dangerous, as we don’t submit to the ruling regime. But we are back, fighting the army of trolls coming our way.

On Monday the 17th, the Journalism Award for Tolerance was held in Belgrade, marking the award’s 10th anniversary. The head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia said that the award’s purpose is to promote ethical, accurate and non-discriminatory reporting, and to raise awareness about the importance of equality and tolerance in society. Over the past decade, the award went to journalists across Serbia who have raised awareness on issues such as accessibility for persons with disabilities, domestic violence, and the portrayal of minority groups. This year, the award went to multiple journalists from independent media outlets such as NIN, Today, and Portal 021.

The OSCE Mission noted that now more than ever, journalists are faced with pressures and violence from government supporters, and commended those who stood by their principles on unbiased reporting.

In some news about the environment, Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining giant, announced the postponement of its lithium exploitation project in the western Jadar Valley. Rio Tinto stated that the lack of progress in obtaining mining permits from the government forced the company to mothball the project.

For several years now, residents of the Jadar valley, alongside citizens all over Serbia, have protested against Rio Tinto’s Jadar project due to the potential irreversible environmental damage of the valley. Hundreds of protests have been held, and in some of them, demonstrators have physically blocked the workers from accessing the mining sites.

When it comes to the economy, the national statistics office published the inflation trend for October on Wednesday the 12th. The report said that the year-on-year inflation stood at around three percent, which is marginally different from September’s annual inflation. The prices of electricity, housing, water, gas and other fuels increased by around seven percent, while the food prices stayed the same. The government boasted that the low food prices were a result of their profit margin cap measure, which they said influenced the drop in inflation.

In some infrastructure news, president Vucic announced the agreement on the Belgrade metro system construction for December, after his meeting with his French counterpart Macron. Vucic said that the projected time for the Metro’s completion is three years. The project envisions two metro railways spanning more than twenty kilometers (around twelve miles).

In twenty twenty-one, Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding with the French rail transport systems manufacturer Alstom and the Chinese PowerChina for the construction of Belgrade metro's first line.

From the 24th to the 28th of November, the southern city of Prokuplje will host its annual comedy festival under the slogan Smiles are coming back to the city! The festival will feature comedy plays by directors from the whole country. Tickets are available online, and retail for 800 dinars, which is around eight dollars.

For more information about Prokuplje’s comedy festival, check out the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Don’t go yet! You’ll like what’s next. The first five people who send us an email at info@rorshok.com saying T-shirt and Serbia Update will get a free t-shirt! You'd better hurry!

Vidimo se!