Serbia Mulls Making Putin Ally Consul in Russia

Amid media reports that a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the businessman Gennady Timchenko, will be appointed as Serbian honorary consul in St Petersburg, Serbian authorities told BIRN they can neither confirm nor deny the claims.

The Belgrade-based newspaper Novosti and Russian news agencies Sputnik and TASS have all reported that Serbia will open the consulate on October 12 and that President Nikolic will attend the ceremony of appointing an honorary consul.

The office of the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and the Serbian Foreign Ministry could not release any information on the matter when contacted by BIRN on Thursday.

Timchenko is the founder of the investment group "Volga Group" and a member of the boards of Sibur Holding - a Russia gas processing and petrochemical company - and of Novatek, one of the biggest gas producers in Russia.

Timchenko was ranked fifth on Forbes list of richest Russians, with an estimated fortune of 11.4 billion US dollars.

However, as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, since 2014 he has been on the list of businessman that are under sanctions in the US.

Jelena Milic, director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, a think tank, told BIRN that reports that Timchenko would be Serbia's new honorary consul were probably correct.

"He is seen as a close friend of Putin, which sends a certain message to Serbia's partners. The opening of the consulate will also happen some 10 days before the planned visit to Serbia of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev," Milic told BIRN.

Milic said that if the reports were correct, it would suggest that Serbia is turning away from the course of EU integration.

Honorary Consuls have no authority to issue documents,...