{"id":68413,"date":"2018-03-13T03:19:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T03:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/13\/serbia-blasts-top-nato-general-over-russia\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:57:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:57:39","slug":"serbia-blasts-top-nato-general-over-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/13\/serbia-blasts-top-nato-general-over-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia blasts top NATO general over Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BELGRADE, Serbia \u2014 Serbia\u2019s defense minister blasted NATO\u2019s top general on Monday for saying that one of the biggest threats for Europe is increasing Russian influence in the Balkans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aleksandar Vulin said that U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti\u2019s statement last week during a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing represents the most \u201cdangerous\u201d anti-Serb statement since the Western military alliance bombed the country in 1999 over its bloody crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin inspects a Mig 29 fighter jet at the military airport Batajnica, near Belgrade, Serbia. (Darko Vojinovic\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The American general said he has seen an increase in Russian influence<\/a> over his year and a half as supreme NATO commander in Europe and that he sees it as more threatening than in the Baltics, former Russian satellites Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scaparrotti said that while the Baltic region in the north of Europe is crucial, those nations are now part of NATO and have a more stable position on the continent. He said he was more concerned with the support of Serbian people within the Balkans who are more susceptible to Russian influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\t