page_title: Serbia–United States relations
section_title: Overthrow of Milošević and aftermath (2000–2008)
hierarchical_section_title: Serbia–United States relations / History / Post-war relations / Overthrow of Milošević and aftermath (2000–2008)
context_page_description: Serbia–United States relations are bilateral relations between the Republic of Serbia and the United States of America. They were first established in 1882 with the Kingdom of Serbia. From 1918 to 2006, the United States maintained relations with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of which Serbia is considered the legal successor.
  At the end of the 19th century, the United States sought to take advantage of the Ottoman Empire's retreat from the Balkans by establishing diplomatic relations with the region's newly emerged nation states, among which was Serbia. The two countries were allies during World War I. After the war, Serbia united with Montenegro and territories previously held by Austria-Hungary to a create a unified South Slavic state that would come to be known as Yugoslavia. The country had diplomatic relations with the United States up to the start of World War II. During World War II in Yugoslavia, the United States supported the Serbian royalist Chetniks over their rivals, the communist Partisans.
context_section_description: A group named Otpor!, originally formed by students in 1998 with the financial assistance of USAID, International Republican Institute, and NED, was one of multiple significant participants in the Bulldozer Revolution, from which Milošević was overthrown. USAID donated over $30 million for Otpor to "purchase cell phones and computers for DOS's leadership and to recruit and train an army of 20,000 election monitors" as well as to supplement them with "a sophisticated marketing campaign with posters, badges and T-shirts." After the Bulldozer Revolution on October 5, 2000, the United States reestablished a diplomatic presence in Belgrade. In 2013, the Associated Press published an article which reported that a CIA operative, Francis Archibald, participated in the organization of the October 5 coup and that the overthrow was "regarded inside the CIA as a blueprint for running a successful peaceful covert action".
  Sanctions against FR Yugoslavia were lifted in January 2001. The United States under the Bush administration denied giving any aid to Yugoslavia even several months after UN sanctions were lifted before Vojislav Koštunica promised to cooperate with demands from The Hague regarding the Slobodan Milošević trial.
  After Milošević was arrested by the police under the new Yugoslav government, the United States pressured Yugoslavia to extradite Milošević to the ICTY or lose financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In March 2001, American economist Joseph Stiglitz traveled to Belgrade to talk to a prominent Democratic Opposition leader, Zoran Đinđić, about the potential consequences of IMF-sponsored austerity. On June 25, 2001, Stiglitz published a paper, "Serbia's Advantages in Coming Late", about the necessity for Serbia not to rush privatization and not to pursue "shock therapy", which was the established macroeconomic advise of the Bretton Woods institutions. Đinđić, however, did not live long to analyze the advice of the Bretton Woods institutions or the anti-austerity plan of Stiglitz, as he was assassinated on March 12, 2003. This accumulated to a crescendo when G17 Plus got into an intense standoff with the Serbian government, composed mostly by DOS, due to the fact that G17 Plus continuously lobbied for the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. Later, in May 2006, Montenegro declared independence from the Serbo-Montenegrin state union; the United States immediately respected the results and urged the new government in Podgorica to keep close ties with Serbia. The United States recognized Serbia as the official successor state of the Serbia and Montenegro and the preceding Yugoslav state.
  Outside of fiscal policy, American influence was evident in executive positions. In September 2002, it was announced that the Military Court in Belgrade was to press charges against Momčilo Perišić, who was the vice president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the time, for espionage in the favour of the CIA. The trial never took place, although upon his release from The Hague on February 28, 2013, it was announced by Perišić's lawyer Novak Lukić that his client was "ready to be judged" on the same 2002 accusations of espionage. As of 2015 no further investigation has taken place.
caption: Vojislav Koštunica, President of FR Yugoslavia, and George W. Bush, President of the United States, in the White House, 2001.
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