Growing Suspicion that Claims about Vucic’s Alleged Life-Threatening Health Condition Are Just a Sham

As it was announced, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was discharged from the Military Academy Hospital (VMA) on Monday after being in the hospital for three days, amid rising suspicion that his health condition was not at all as serious as his associates and media under the control of authorities presented it.

According to unofficial claims attributed to the VMA staff and circulating in Belgrade on Monday, Vucic on Friday became sick due to increased blood pressure, which is known to be present, and cardiac arrhythmias. However, his life, according to these reports, was not threatened at any time, and it is even less true that he “spent two days connected to machines” as claimed by his media adviser Suzana Vasiljevic on Sunday evening. (see V.I.P. No. 6736)

Instead, according to these claims, Vucic received only the routine therapy usual for such situations, including infusion and some mild sedative.

Vasiljevic’s claim is even more ridiculous when one bears in mind that Vucic - allegedly “on the machines” - thanked everyone for wishing him a speedy recovery on social media over the weekend.

The suspicion that it is a media spin - on the one hand, to once again attack the independent media, this time because they upset him with their questions. thus threatening his health; on the other, to demonstrate Vucic’s supposedly firm character and dedication to work - was also raised by Vucic’s sudden transition from an alleged life-threatening state to a return to business as usual mode, including those that are not within his constitutionally defined duties, such as a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of Azerbaijani Azvirt company, which is engaged in the construction of the so-called Corridor XI.

News agency Tanjug, which slavishly follows every Vucic’s step and notes all of his public statements, carried on Monday that Vucic “was (...) in his workplace, almost immediately after leaving the VMA.”

“The president has been working part-time out of precaution and due to the physicians’ advice and has had to take the therapy prescribed to him because of cardiac problems. Already [on Tuesday], Vucic will confer with representatives of Azvirt, in the Secretariat-General building at noon,” the report reads.

Finally, speculations were also fueled by a photo posted on social media depicting Dr. Petar Svorcan, director of KBC Zvezdara, a Belgrade city hospital, and - as it is claimed - Vucic’s father, Andjelko, in a relaxed conversation at a restaurant. The key is in timing: it is claimed that the photo was taken on Friday, November 15, at the celebration of the Day of the Serbian Medical Chamber, when Vucic allegedly, in the interpretation of his associated and pro-regime media, “was fighting for his life” at the VMA.

The same sources, moreover, states that the VMA head, Dr. Miroslav Vukosavljevic, attended the same celebration - which would certainly not be the case if Vucic’s health condition was dramatically poor.

Those more cautious, however, point out that the first information that Vucic became sick were posted on social media on Friday late evening, which leaves the possibility that he was still well at the time when his father was at the doctors’ celebration, or that his father was still unaware of his son’s health condition at the time.

The pro-regime and notionally independent media, meanwhile, kept on dealing with the topic of Vucic’s health by sticking to the official narrative.

So, Blic on Tuesday writes that doctors had ordered Vucic not to travel by plane for a month, which would require him to cancel a visit to Iran scheduled for November 22, as well as a trip to the United Arab Emirates.

“The VMA doctors were explicit that travel by plane could cause a deterioration in health and until it stabilizes, Vucic will have to avoid this way of transport,” the text said, citing an anonymous source.

“In the coming weeks, he should at least halve all his activities,” the source said.