Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić was briefly hospitalised at a military hospital in Belgrade on Saturday, forced to cut short his visit to the United States.
Vučić “was admitted to the Military Medical Academy immediately after landing” in Belgrade, according to a statement from the office. Hours after admission, cardiologist Dragan Dinčić reported that the president’s condition was “stable and satisfactory.”
The Serbian leader felt “intense chest pain” while in the United States. American doctors recorded high blood pressure.
He was discharged on Saturday, shortly before 4 p.m. CEST. However, Dinčić said the president would not be able to fully resume his normal activities in the coming days. Vučić faced “similar problems” three times in the past 10 years.
Prior to his hospitalisation, the Serbian leader twice said he was due to meet US President Donald Trump. Vučić is facing mounting domestic pressure amid a canopy collapse at the Novi Sad train station in November 2024 that killed 16 people.
Meanwhile, the opposition says Vučić failed to meet with Trump, so he claimed “a sudden health problem,” according to Zdravko Ponoš, leader of the Srce party.
He’s covering up his fiasco with a story about a sudden health problem forcing him to rush back to Belgrade. There are no medicines in pharmacies in America.
Vučić’s statement casts doubt on a promised visit to Russia to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe on 9 May. Earlier on Thursday, he said he would join some 20 world leaders travelling to Moscow to watch a military parade on Red Square.
