December 16, 2025, 3:49 p.mDecember 16, 2025, 3:49 p.m
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has withdrawn from a 750 million euro (around 701 million francs) real estate project in the Serbian capital Belgrade.
Image: keystone
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed to journalists in Belgrade that the US investor had canceled his participation in the construction of a luxury hotel and residential park on the site of the general staff building in central Belgrade, which was bombed by NATO in 1999. “This is incredibly serious and bad news,” he said.
Aleksandar Vucic has been the President of Serbia since 2017.Image: keystone
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times had previously reported on the withdrawal from the project, citing speakers from Kushner’s project company Affinity Partners. The plans sparked massive protests among the Serbian population. The ruins of the Ministry of Defense and headquarters of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army should have been demolished.
Building complex is no longer a cultural monument
NATO bombed the building complex in 1999 as part of its air strikes against the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. These had the aim of ending the persecution and murder of Kosovo Albanians by the then regime of Slobodan Milošević.
Slobodan Milošević died in March 2006.Image: AP TT NEWS AGENCY
Affinity Partners’ decision came just hours after Serbian anti-corruption prosecutors charged Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic, a close confidant of Vucic, with forgery. In order to speed up the progress of the project, the government controlled by Vucic is said to have falsified reports. On this basis, it revoked the building complex’s official status as a cultural monument in November 2024.
Vucic is argumentative
Vucic is under pressure from a massive protest movement because of his authoritarian and perceived corrupt rule. He reacted aggressively to the cancellation of the Kushner project. The lost investment was the result of the “agitation of the blockers” – as he called the protest movement – who wanted to “destroy Serbia,” he said during his media appearance. He will also file criminal charges against the prosecutors who indicted Selakovic and several other top officials for causing “enormous damage” to Serbia. (sda/dpa)
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