Belgrade: Vucic admitted to Military Medical Academy after falling ill in US

According to the Tanjug news agency, Vucic fell ill on Friday in Florida while preparing for meetings. At the time, he was accompanied by his media advisor Suzana Vasiljevic and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali.

Vucic had previously announced plans to meet with high-ranking Republican officials and US President Donald Trump during his visit.

However, on Instagram, he only shared that he had met with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Tanjug also reported that Vucic met with Congresswoman Claudia Tenney and Rod Blagojevich, a Serbian-American politician and former governor of Illinois.

https://n1info.ba/english/news/serbian-president-vucic-falls-ill-cuts-short-us-visit/

Vucic's office stated that the public will be informed about his health "in the coming days."

US President's special foreign envoy extended best wishes to Vucic via social network, not specifying if Vucic was supposed to meet him only or another US administration official.

The Serbian president had also announced plans to attend the traditional Victory Day parade in Moscow on 9 May, and he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a new gas agreement for Serbia and a solution for the Serbian oil company NIS, which has faced sanctions due to its majority Russian ownership - a matter that has drawn criticism from the EU.

Vucic's sudden return to Serbia has prompted critical reactions from the opposition. Zdravko Ponos, president of the opposition Serbia Centre party, said Vucic had hoped to "kiss Trump's hand, but got the cold shoulder instead."

Borko Stefanovic, deputy leader of the opposition Freedom and Justice Party, expressed doubts about Vučić's illness, calling it an excuse to cover up what he described as a complete failure of the trip.

In a statement, Stefanovic claimed Vucic's "private visit to Miami was a total fiasco," alleging that hundreds of thousands of euros were spent on flights with the new Falcon jet, bought for over €50 million of public money, and that the efforts of four lobbying firms hired by the Serbian government in the US had yielded no results.

"Aleksandar Vucic failed to get a photo with Trump despite paying millions of dollars, didn't attend the Republican National Committee event, and spent four days in Miami insulting students and the opposition," Stefanovic said.

Government officials, meanwhile, accused the opposition and Vucic's political opponents of taking delight in his illness.