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Serbia secures gas deal with Putin, as West boycotts Russia | News

Serbian president refuses to explicitly condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine, has not joined Western sanctions on Moscow.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has announced that he has secured an “extremely favourable” three-year natural gas supply deal with Russia, amid efforts by the European Union to phase out Russian energy supplies.

“What I can tell you is that we have agreed on the main elements that are very favourable for Serbia,” the Serbian president said after clinching the deal during a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

As the war in Ukraine rages, Serbia’s president has announced that he has secured an “extremely favourable” three-year natural gas supply deal with Russia during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“What I can tell you is that we have agreed on the main elements that are very favourable for Serbia,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a former pro-Russian ultranationalist, told reporters on Sunday.

“We agreed to sign a three-year contract, which is the first element of the contract that suits the Serbian side very well,” he said.

Vucic claims he wants to take Serbia into the European Union but has spent recent years cementing ties with Russia, a longtime ally. He has also refused to explicitly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his country has not joined Western sanctions against Moscow.

Russia’s deal with Serbia follows after Moscow cut off gas exports to EU members Finland, Poland, and Bulgaria.

The gas deal is likely to be signed during a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Belgrade early in June – a rare visit by a ranking Russian official to a European country since the invasion of Ukraine began in February.

Despite reports of the atrocities in Ukraine due to the invasion, Vucic and other Serbian leaders have been complaining of Western pressure to join sanctions against Russia.

Serbian officials say the Balkan country must resist such pressure, even if it means abandoning the goal of joining the EU.

Vucic’s 10-year autocratic rule

Under Vucic’s 10-year autocratic rule and relentless pro-Kremlin propaganda, Serbia has gradually slid towards aligning with Russia.

Polls suggest a majority in the country would rather join some sort of a union with Moscow than the EU.

“The agreement reached by President Vucic with President Putin is proof of how much Serbia’s decision not to participate in anti-Russian hysteria is respected,” Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said.

“The free leader, free people, make decisions that are good for Serbia and do not accept orders” from the West, said Vulin, who is known for his pro-Russian stance.

The EU as a whole has been hurriedly reducing its reliance on Russian energy since the invasion, and is set to discuss ways to further do so and to hear from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a leaders’ summit that starts on Monday.

It is not clear how Serbia would receive the Russian gas if the EU decides to shut off the Russian supply that travels over its member countries.

Serbia is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas, and its main energy companies are under Russian majority ownership.

In 2008, Serbia put its gas and oil sectors in the hands of Russian companies. Gazprom Neft and Gazprom together hold a majority stake in the country’s sole oil company while Gazprom is the majority shareholder in the country’s sole gas storage facility.

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China makes semi-secret delivery of missiles to Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region.

Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade’s civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.

The Chinese cargo planes with military markings were pictured at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport. Serbia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.

The arms delivery over the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China’s growing global reach.

“The Y-20s’ appearance raised eyebrows because they flew en masse as opposed to a series of single-aircraft flights,” wrote The Warzone online magazine. “The Y-20′s presence in Europe in any numbers is also still a fairly new development.”

Serbian military analyst Aleksandar Radic said that “the Chinese carried out their demonstration of force.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic all but confirmed the delivery of the medium-range system that was agreed in 2019, saying on Saturday that he will present “the newest pride” of the Serbian military on Tuesday or Wednesday.

He had earlier complained that NATO countries, which represent most of Serbia’s neighbors, are refusing to allow the system’s delivery flights over their territories amid tensions over Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.

Although Serbia has voted in favor of U.N. resolutions that condemn the bloody Russian attacks in Ukraine, it has refused to join international sanctions against its allies in Moscow or outright criticize the apparent atrocities committed by the Russian troops there.

Back in 2020, U.S. officials warned Belgrade against the purchase of HQ-22 anti-aircraft systems, whose export version is known as FK-3. They said that if Serbia really wants to join the European Union and other Western alliances, it must align its military equipment with Western standards.

The Chinese missile system has been widely compared to the American Patriot and the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems although it has a shorter range than more advanced S-300s. Serbia will be the first operator of the Chinese missiles in Europe.

Serbia was at war with its neighbors in the 1990s. The country, which is formally seeking EU membership, has already been boosting its armed forces with Russian and Chinese arms, including warplanes, battle tanks and other equipment.

In 2020, it took delivery of Chengdu Pterodactyl-1 drones, known in China as Wing Loong. The combat drones are able to strike targets with bombs and missiles and can be used for reconnaissance tasks.

There are fears in the West that the arming of Serbia by Russia and China could encourage the Balkan country toward another war, especially against its former province of Kosovo that proclaimed independence in 2008. Serbia, Russia and China don’t recognize Kosovo’s statehood, while the United States and most Western countries do.

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Rio Tinto shares slump as Serbia pulls plug on its $2.4 bln lithium project

  • Serbia revokes Rio’s lithium exploration licences
  • Share prices drop as cancellation seen as major setback
  • Cancellation will mean greater shortage of lithium – analyst

MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Shares in Rio Tinto tumbled on Friday after Serbia revoked its lithium exploration licences over environmental concerns, hurting the Anglo-Australian miner’s ambition to become Europe’s largest supplier of the metal used in electric vehicles.

The decision by Serbia comes as it approaches a general election in April, and as relations between Belgrade and Canberra have soured after Sunday’s deportation of tennis star Novak Djokovic from Australia over its COVID-19 entry rules.

It is also a major setback for Rio (RIO.L), (RIO.AX), which was hoping the project would help make it one of the world’s 10 biggest producers of lithium, a key ingredient in batteries.

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The mine is Rio’s only lithium project and the company announced just a month ago a deal to buy a second lithium asset for $825 million, as it looks to build its battery materials business.

Rio’s shares in Australia closed down 4.1% after falling as much as 5.1% in the Australian stock market, its worst intra-day drop since August 2021. The benchmark index ended down 2.3%.

In London, Rio’s shares were down more than 3% by 0855 GMT, slightly underperforming their peers.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic told a news conference in Belgrade that the decision came after requests by various green groups to halt the $2.4 billion Jadar lithium project that had planned to start production in 2027.

Thousands of people blocked roads last year in a protest against the government’s backing of the project, demanding Rio Tinto leave the country and forcing the local municipality to scrap a plan to allocate land for the facility.

The decision came days after ties between Australia and Serbia hit rock bottom as tennis star Djokovic was deported before he could play in the Australian Open.

Djokovic spoke out in support of “clean air” in a December Instagram story post captioning a picture of the anti-mining protests, which was published by digital sports platform The Bridge.

Twitter users were quick to joke about Rio being deported from Serbia.

Rio said it was “extremely concerned” by Serbia’s decision and was reviewing the legal basis for it.

The Australian government said it regrets Serbia’s decision to revoke Rio’s licences.

“We note the strong economic benefits of the significant investment by Rio Tinto in Serbia. Australian resources companies have an outstanding reputation around the world, particularly when it comes to their expertise,” the government said in a statement to Reuters.

Rio has already spent US$450 million in pre-feasibility, feasibility and other studies on Jadar to understand the nature of the deposit, the company said in a project fact sheet in July.

“The level of opposition to it has really ratcheted up over the last six months,” Credit Suisse analyst Saul Kavonic said of the Jadar mine.

“We’ve been highlighting for a while now there would be about $2 a share at risk if the government cancels it,” Kavonic said.

This week, Rio pushed back the timeline for first production from Jadar by one year to 2027, citing delays in approvals. read more

‘EVEN GREATER SHORTAGE’

At full capacity, the Jadar mine was expected to produce 58,000 tonnes of refined battery-grade lithium carbonate a year, making it Europe’s biggest lithium mine by output.

Experts said the world’s shortage of lithium had been forecast to last for another three years at least, but with the cancellation of the Jadar project, the shortfall would now last for several years. read more

“We’re at the point now where lithium supply is going to set the pace of electric vehicle rollout,” Kavonic said.

Robust global demand for the metal far outstripping supply growth has pushed lithium prices to a record in recent years.

Lithium futures , which started trading on the CME in May last year, have jumped 171% to a record $38/kg on Thursday, according to Refinitiv data.

In China, cash prices of lithium hydroxide monohydrate are trading around a record 262,500 yuan ($41,387.47) per tonne, up by more than 400% from a year ago.

Its state planner said on Friday that restrictions on purchases of new energy vehicles including EVs will be gradually removed in a “vigorous” push to promote “green consumption”, a plan likely to further increase demand for lithium. read more

($1 = 6.3425 Chinese yuan)

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Benchmark lithium hydroxide prices surge to record highs on global demand boom

Reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne; additional reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore; writing by Praveen Menon; editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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‘This is an end’: Serbia revokes Rio Tinto’s lithium project licences

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Serbia revoked Rio Tinto’s (RIO.L) lithium exploration licences on Thursday, bowing to protesters who opposed the development of the project by the Anglo-Australian mining giant on environmental grounds.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the government’s decision came after requests by various green groups to halt the$2.4 billion Jadar lithium project which, if completed, would help make Rio a top 10 lithium producer.

“All decisions (linked to the lithium project) and all licences have been annulled,” Brnabic told reporters after a government session. “As far as project Jadar is concerned, this is an end.”

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Earlier this week, Rio had pushed back the timeline for first production from Jadar by one year to 2027, citing delays in key approvals. read more

Rio Tinto said it was “extremely concerned” by Serbia’s decision and was reviewing the legal basis for it.

The company committed to the project just last year, as global miners pushed into the metals needed for the green energy transition, including lithium, which is used to make electric vehicle batteries.

Brnabic accused Rio Tinto of providing insufficient information to communities about the project. In a statement, Rio said “it had always operated in compliance” with Serbian laws.

Thousands of people blocked roads last year in protest against the government’s backing of the project, demanding Rio Tinto leave the country and forcing the local municipality to scrap a plan to allocate land for the facility. read more

Thursday’s decision comes as Serbia approaches a general election in April and as relations between Belgrade and Australia have soured after the high-profile deportation of tennis star Novak Djokovic from Australia over the country’s COVID-19 entry rules. read more

Djokovic himself spoke out in support of “clean air” in a December Instagram story post captioning a picture of the protests, which was published by digital sports platform The Bridge.

Twitter users were quick to make jokes about Rio being deported from Serbia.

Serbia’s populist ruling coalition, led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), had initially showed support for lithium and copper mining, a stance that made it come under fire, helping erode the comfortable majority the party enjoyed in a 2020 vote.

Sasa Djogovic of the Belgrade-based Institute for Market Research said that the ruling elite “is losing popularity and because of that it is forced to fulfil the demands by activists.”

The SNS-led coalition is expected to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on April 3, although the date is yet to be officially confirmed by President Aleksandar Vucic.

“We are listening to our people and it is our job to protect their interests even when we think differently,” Brnabic said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Brnabic said Rio’s Jadar development would be likely paused at least until after the elections.

“A compromise will be probably reached after the elections, so that there could be a renegotiation of royalties or value-sharing,” said a Rio Tinto shareholder, who declined to be named.

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Reporting by Ivana Sekularac, additional reporting by Clara Denina; editing by David Evans, Amran Abocar and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Novak Djokovic lands in Dubai, then takes flight to native Serbia after deportation from Australia

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Novak Djokovic was heading home to Serbia on Monday after his deportation from Australia over its required COVID-19 vaccination ended the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player’s hopes of defending his Australian Open title.

An Emirates plane carrying him from Australia landed in Dubai early Monday, and Djokovic was later seen on board a plane due to land in the Serbian capital of Belgrade at 12:10 p.m. local time. His lawyers had argued in an Australian court on Sunday that he should be allowed to stay in the country and compete in the tournament under a medical exemption due to a coronavirus infection last month.

Djokovic has won nine Australian Open titles, including three in a row, and a total of 20 Grand Slam singles trophies, tied with rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most in the history of men’s tennis. Federer is not playing while recovering from injury, and Nadal is the only former Australian Open men’s champion in the tournament that began Monday.

Djokovic has overwhelming support in his native Serbia where his closest family lives. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accused the Australian government of “harassing” the top-ranked tennis star and urged him to return where he would be welcomed.

Djokovic had tested positive with coronavirus in Belgrade on Dec. 16, which he used as an argument to enter Australia, but his visa was initially canceled on Jan. 6 by a border official who decided he didn’t qualify for a medical exemption from Australia’s rules for unvaccinated visitors.

He won an appeal to stay for the tournament, but Australia’s immigration minister later revoked his visa. Three Federal Court judges decided unanimously Sunday to affirm the immigration minister’s right to cancel Djokovic’s visa.

Vaccination amid the pandemic was a requirement for anyone at the Australian Open, whether players, their coaches or anyone at the tournament site. More than 95% of all Top 100 men and women in their tours’ respective rankings are vaccinated. At least two men — American Tennys Sandgren and Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert — skipped the first major tournament of the year due to the vaccine requirement.

Djokovic’s attempt to get the medical exemption for not being vaccinated sparked anger in Australia, where strict lockdowns in cities and curbs on international travel have been employed to try to control the spread of the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

But Djokovic has overwhelming support in his native Serbia, and President Aleksandar Vucic said the court hearing in Australia was “a farce with a lot of lies.”

“They think that they humiliated Djokovic with this 10-day harassment, and they actually humiliated themselves. If you said that the one who was not vaccinated has no right to enter, Novak would not come or would be vaccinated,” Vucic told reporters.

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Thousands block roads across Serbia in anti-government protest

BELGRADE, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Thousands of people blocked roads across Serbia in an anti-government protest against two new laws that environmentalists say will let foreign companies exploit local resources.

Serbia’s government has offered mineral resources to companies including China’s Zijin copper miner (601899.SS) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L). Green activists say the projects will pollute land and water in the Balkan nation.

The protest is a headache for the ruling Peoples’ Progressive Party led by the President Aleksandar Vucic ahead of parliamentary and presidential election next year.

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Thousands gathered on the main bridge in the capital Belgrade chanting “Rio Tinto go away from the Drina River.”

They held banners reading: “Stop investors, save the nature,” “We are not giving away the nature in Serbia,” and “For the land, the water and the air”.

Roadblocks have been set up all over Serbia including the second largest city of Novi Sad, in Western Serbia in Sabac, Uzice, and Nis in the South, in Zajecar in the East.

Anti-government protesters wear masks during a protest in Belgrade, Serbia, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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“The reason (for the protest) is to protect our land, water and air. We do not want it to be sold cheaply,” said Stefan, a student protesting in Belgrade.

Rio has promised to adhere to all domestic and EU environmental standards, but environmentalists say its planned $2.4 billion lithium mine would irreversibly pollute drinking water in the area.

The protesters are angry about a referendum law passed last month which will make it harder for people to protest against polluting projects, as well as a new expropriation law, which makes it easier for the state to acquire private land.

President Aleksandar Vucic on his Instagram profile published a picture from the village of Gornje Nedeljice where Rio Tinto have already started buying land for its future lithium project.

Vucic said once the environmental study on the project is complete, he would call a referendum to allow people to decide whether the project should go through.

“Everything we build today we are leaving to our children,” Vucic wrote on Instagram.

(This story corrects figure in paragraph 8 to $2.4 billion instead of 2.4 million)

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Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Christina Fincher

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Russians flock to Serbia for Western-made COVID-19 vaccines

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — When Russian regulators approved the country’s own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot.

So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, they looked for a vaccine that would allow them to travel freely — a quest that brought them to Serbia, where hundreds of Russian citizens have flocked in recent weeks to receive Western-approved COVID-19 shots.

Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, is a convenient choice for vaccine-seeking Russians because they can enter the allied Balkan nation without visas and because it offers a wide choice of Western-made shots. Organized tours for Russians have soared, and they can be spotted in the capital, Belgrade, at hotels, restaurants, bars and vaccination clinics.

“We took the Pfizer vaccine because we want to travel around the world,” Nadezhda Pavlova, 54, said after receiving the vaccine last weekend at a sprawling Belgrade vaccination center.

Her husband, Vitaly Pavlov, 55, said he wanted “the whole world to be open to us rather than just a few countries.”

Vaccination tour packages for Russians seeking shots endorsed by the World Health Organization appeared on the market in mid-September, according to Russia’s Association of Tour Operators.

Maya Lomidze, the group’s executive director, said prices start at $300 to $700, depending on what’s included.

Lauded by Russian President Vladimir Putin as world’s first registered COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V emerged in August 2020 and has been approved in some 70 countries, including Serbia. But the WHO has said global approval is still under review after citing issues at a production plant a few months ago.

On Friday, a top World Health Organization official said legal issues holding up the review of Sputnik V were “about to be sorted out,” a step that could relaunch the process toward emergency use authorization.

Other hurdles remain for the Russian application, including a lack of full scientific information and inspections of manufacturing sites, said Dr. Mariangela Simao, a WHO assistant director-general.

Apart from the WHO, Sputnik V is also still awaiting approval from the European Medicines Agency before all travel limitations can be lifted for people vaccinated with the Russian formula.

The long wait has frustrated many Russians, so when the WHO announced yet another delay in September, they started looking for solutions elsewhere.

“People don’t want to wait; people need to be able to get into Europe for various personal reasons,” explained Anna Filatovskaya, Russky Express tour agency spokeswoman in Moscow. “Some have relatives. Some have business, some study, some work. Some simply want to go to Europe because they miss it.”

Serbia, a fellow-Orthodox Christian and Slavic nation, offers the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinopharm shots. By popular demand, Russian tourist agencies are now also offering tours to Croatia, where tourists can receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, without the need to return for a second dose.

“For Serbia, the demand has been growing like an avalanche,” Filatovskaya said. “It’s as if all our company is doing these days is selling tours for Serbia.”

The Balkan nation introduced vaccination for foreigners in August, when the vaccination drive inside the country slowed after reaching around 50% of the adult population. Official Serbian government data shows that nearly 160,000 foreign citizens so far have been vaccinated in the country, but it is unclear how many are Russians.

In Russia, the country’s vaccination rate has been low. By this week, almost 33% of Russia’s 146 million people have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and 29% were fully vaccinated. Apart from Sputnik V and a one-dose version known as Sputnik Light, Russia has also used two other domestically designed vaccines that have not been internationally approved.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko recently said administrative issues were among the main holdups in the WHO’s review process.

Judy Twigg, a political science professor specializing in global health at Virginia Commonwealth University, expects Sputnik V to be approved eventually but not this year.

“The WHO has said that it needs more data, and it needs to go back and inspect some production lines where it saw issues early on. Those re-inspections are a multiweek process, with good reason. It’s not something that they just gloss over lightly.”

Amid low vaccination rates and reluctance by the authorities to reimpose restrictive measures, both Russia and Serbia have seen COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations reach record levels in the past weeks.

The daily coronavirus death toll in Russia topped 900 for a second straight day on Thursday — a day after reaching a record 929. In Serbia, the daily death toll of 50 people is the highest in months in the country of 7 million that so far has confirmed nearly 1 million cases of infection.

Pavlova said the “double protection” offered by the Pfizer booster shots would allow the family “to not only travel around the world, but also to see our loved ones without fear.”

Since the vaccine tours exploded in popularity about a month ago, they have provided welcome business for Serbian tour operators devastated by the pandemic in an already weak economy. The owner of BTS Kompas travel agency in Belgrade, Predrag Tesic, said they are booked well in advance.

“It started modestly at first, but day by day numbers have grown nicely,” Tesic said.

He explained that his agency organizes everything, from airport transport to accommodations and translation and other help at vaccination points. When they return for another dose in three weeks, the Russian guests also are offered brief tours to some of popular sites in Serbia.

Back in Russia, some Moscow residents said they understood why many of their fellow Russians travel abroad for vaccines. But Tatiana Novikova said homegrown vaccines remain her choice.

“I trust ours more, to be honest,” she said.

——

Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic and Ivana Bzganovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and Daria Litvinova and Daniel Kozin reported from Moscow.

___

Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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Havana Syndrome Attacks Widen With CIA Officer’s Evacuation From Serbia

WASHINGTON—The CIA evacuated an intelligence officer serving in Serbia in recent weeks who suffered serious injuries consistent with the neurological attacks known as Havana Syndrome, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The incident in the Balkans, which hasn’t been previously reported, is the latest in what the officials describe as a steady expansion of attacks on American spies and diplomats posted overseas by unknown assailants using what government officials and scientists suspect is some sort of directed-energy source.

Still more suspected attacks have occurred overseas and in the U.S., the current and former officials said, along with recently reported ones in India and Vietnam.

“In the past 60 to 90 days, there have been a number of other reported cases” on U.S. soil and globally, said

Dr. James Giordano,

a Georgetown University professor of neurology who is advising the U.S. government on the issue. “They are seen as valid reports with verified health indicators.”

The continuing attacks, which may cause dizziness, memory loss and other health issues, have sparked frustration within the U.S. government and sapped morale at the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency, the current and former officials said. Some professional diplomats and spies have become reluctant to take overseas postings for themselves and their families, the officials said.

CIA Director William Burns has tripled the number of medical staff focused on Havana Syndrome, the agency says.



Photo:

jim lo scalzo/Shutterstock

“The lights are blinking red now. This is a crisis for VIP travel, officers overseas,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a veteran CIA operations officer who retired from the CIA in 2019 due to persisting symptoms he suffered following a 2017 visit to Moscow and has been critical of the federal government’s response.

Overall, the Biden administration has made finding the source of the attacks a “top priority,” an administration official said. Spokespersons for the CIA and State Department also said the issue was a primary concern and declined to discuss the Serbian case or other specific incidents.

“We take each report we receive extremely seriously and are working to ensure that affected employees get the care and support they need,” the State Department spokesman said.

The CIA spokesperson said that the agency is doing all it can to protect its officers. CIA Director William Burns has made leadership changes in the agency’s Office of Medical Services and tripled the number of medical staff focused on the issue, the spokesperson said. This summer, he tapped a veteran of the agency’s decadelong hunt for

Osama bin Laden

to lead a task force searching for the cause of the incidents.

The CIA in recent weeks also recalled the chief of the agency’s station in Vienna, where a large number of attacks have taken place, over management issues, including the individual’s handling of personnel who believe they had been struck, a source familiar with the issue said. The Washington Post first reported the recall.

Some recent attacks have come close to the top echelons of the Biden administration. When Mr. Burns traveled to India earlier this month, a member of his team reported symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome and received medical attention, a U.S. official said. The incident was first reported by CNN.

In August, Vice President Kamala Harris temporarily delayed her arrival in Vietnam after the State Department made her office aware of a “possible anomalous health incident”—the U.S. government’s formal name for Havana Syndrome—in Hanoi.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited in Hanoi, Vietnam, in August after a temporary delay due to concerns over Havana Syndrome.



Photo:

evelyn hockstein/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The unexplained health incidents are known as Havana Syndrome because they first surfaced among U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Cuba in late 2016. The symptoms include dizziness, headache, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, cognitive difficulties and memory loss.

Since then, attacks have been reported in China, Colombia, Austria and Germany, along with those in Serbia, India and Vietnam. While about 200 U.S. government employees have been affected, officials caution that a precise count is difficult to determine because each case must be medically verified and some individuals’ symptoms end up having other explanations.

Five years after the first symptoms emerged, the U.S. government has yet to determine who is behind the attacks and what mechanism or mechanisms are being used.

“In terms of have we gotten closer? I think the answer is yes—but not close enough to make the analytic judgment that people are waiting for,” CIA Deputy Director

David Cohen

said earlier this month at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.

In December, a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said that the abrupt onset of symptoms was most consistent with “a directed radio frequency (RF) energy attack” rather than inadvertent or environmental exposure. But it also said that more research was needed.

Director of National Intelligence

Avril Haines

has convened a task force made up of intelligence officers and outside scientists to try to pinpoint the mechanism or device used in the attacks. Its report is due later this fall, although it is unclear what will be made public.

Georgetown’s Dr. Giordano said the culprit could be some form of ultrasonic or acoustic device; a rapidly-pulsed microwave; or a laser-based system. The intent of those using it is also unclear, he said. They could be employing an electronic surveillance system with unusual side effects, or “a discrete form of disruptive instrument,” Dr. Giordano said.

“That’s a nice way of saying this is a weapon,” he said.

Avril Haines, the director of National Intelligence, has convened a task force to try to pinpoint the method of attack that causes Havana Syndrome.



Photo:

Bill Clark/Zuma Press

Earlier this month, the House passed and sent Mr. Biden legislation to sign which authorizes the CIA and State Department to provide financial compensation to employees who suffer brain injuries while on assignment.

“For so long, we suffered the moral injury of a silent wound, where the [U.S. government] medical staff did not believe us. This all changes now, and it is a watershed moment for the victims,” Mr. Polymeropoulos said.

The bill, he said, offers both a statement by the U.S. government that the attacks are real and remuneration “for victims who have spent thousands of dollars out of pocket for healthcare.”

The Biden administration’s efforts in dealing with the attacks include ensuring “any affected individuals get the care they need,” the administration official said. “In certain cases, these incidents have upended the lives of U.S. personnel who have devoted their careers to serving our country.”

A thorny question, the officials and policy specialists said, is how Washington should react if it pins the blame on a foreign adversary. Some current and former officials say they suspect Russia is behind the attacks, although no public evidence of that has emerged and Moscow has denied the allegations.

Jason Killmeyer, a counterterrorism and foreign policy expert formerly with Deloitte Consulting LLP, said the U.S. should act now and not wait for attribution. He called for increasing defensive measures, making Havana Syndrome a bigger issue in its diplomacy and upping the pressure on adversary intelligence services to see how they react.

“We’re five years into this thing,” he said. “There’s no ‘smoking gun’ coming.”

Write to Warren P. Strobel at Warren.Strobel@wsj.com

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Police clash with opponents of Serbian church in Montenegro

CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — The new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro was inaugurated on Sunday amid clashes between police and protesters who oppose continued Serb influence in the tiny Balkan state.

Police and media reports said at least seven police officers and several protesters were injured in the clashes that saw police launch tear gas against the demonstrators, who hurled rocks and bottles at them and fired gunshots into the air. At least 15 people were arrested.

Sunday’s ceremony held in Cetinje, a former capital of the small Balkan nation, has angered opponents of the Serbian church in Montenegro, which declared independence from neighboring Serbia in 2006.

Evading road blockades set up by the demonstrators, the new head of the Serbian church in Montenegro, Metropolitan Joanikije, arrived in Cetinje by a helicopter along with the Serbian patriarch. TV footage showed the priests being led into the Cetinje monastery by heavily armed riot police holding a bulletproof blanket to shield their bodies.

The demonstrators set up barriers with trash bins, tires and large rocks to try to prevent church and state dignitaries from coming to the inauguration. Chanting “This is Not Serbia!” and “This is Montenegro!,” many of the protesters spent the night at the barriers amid reports that police were sending reinforcements to break through the blockade. Tires at one blockade were set on fire.

Montenegrins remain deeply divided over their country’s ties with neighboring Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is the nation’s dominant religious institution. Around 30% of Montenegro’s 620,000 people consider themselves Serb.

Since Montenegro split from Serbia, pro-independence Montenegrins have advocated for a recognized Orthodox Christian church that is separate from the Serbian one.

Metropolitan Joanikije said after the ceremony that “the divisions have been artificially created and we have done all in our power to help remove them, but that will take a lot of time.”

In a clear demonstration of the sharp political and social divide in Montenegro, President Milo Djukanovic, the architect of the state’s independence from Serbia, visited Cetinje while the current pro-Serb Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic went to Podgorica to welcome the Serbian Patriarch .

Krivokapic branded the protests as “an attempted terrorist act,” while Djukanovic said the the protesters in Cetinje guarded national interests against the alleged bid by Serbia to impose its influence in Montenegro through the church.

Djukanovic accused the government of “ruthlessly serving imperial interests of (Serbia) and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is a striking fist of Serbian nationalism, all against Montenegro.”

In Serbia, President Aleksandar Vucic, who has been accused by the opposition in Montenegro of meddling in its internal affairs in conjunction with Russia, congratulated Joanikije on his inauguration and praised the government for going ahead with the ceremony despite the clashes.

“Cetinje is a town where some 90% of the people are against the Serbian Orthodox Church, where there is hate towards everyone who is not Montenegrin,” Vucic said in Belgrade. “This is not a real hate, its hate that is induced by certain politicians in Montenegro, so it was quite logical to expect what happened there.”

The U.S. government urged all sides “to urgently de-escalate the situation,” according to a U.S. Embassy statement.

“Religious freedom and the freedom of expression, including to peacefully assemble, must be respected,” it said.

Joanikije’s predecessor as the church’s leader in Montenegro, Amfilohije, died in October after contracting COVID-19.

Montenegro’s previous authorities led the country to independence from Serbia and defied Russia to join NATO in 2017. Montenegro also is seeking to become a European Union member.

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Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.

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U.S. women’s basketball beats Serbia in quarterfinals

The United States women’s basketball team will get its chance to win a seventh-straight Olympic gold medal.

Team USA cruised past Serbia 79-59 in their semifinal game on Friday in Japan to earn a spot in the gold medal game. The win marked their 54th straight victory in Olympic play, a streak dating back to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

The United States didn’t waste any time on Friday, and took advantage of a tough offensive start from Serbia to take a 25-12 lead after the opening quarter. Serbia shot just 6-of-19 in the first 10 minutes, and scored only four points in the first five minutes of the game.

Though both teams stalled a bit offensively in the second, Team USA ended the period on an 11-3 push to claim an 18-point lead at halftime.

By then, the game was essentially over. The Americans pushed their lead to 19 points by the end of the third quarter and then cruised through the final period to secure the 20-point win and advance to the championship game.

Serbia had just one player score in double figures in the loss. Yvonne Anderson — the daughter of St. John’s men’s basketball coach Mike Anderson — led the team with 15 points off the bench while shooting 6-of-16 from the field. Serbia shot just 30% as a team, and went 4-of-19 from behind the arc. 

Brittney Griner led Team USA with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Chelsea Gray put up 14 points off the bench while shooting 5-of-6 from the field. Breanna Stewart added 12 points and nine rebounds. They had 17 turnovers in the win.

Team USA will advance to take on either Japan or France in the gold medal game. Those two countries will square off later on Friday, and the loser will move on to the bronze medal game against Serbia.

Team USA won its 54th straight Olympic game and will next play for its seventh straight gold medal. (Aris Messins/AFP/Getty Images)

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