CHRISTOPHER HILL IN THE SERVICE OF SERBIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS: Former U.S. ambassador became an advisor to the “Pupin Initiative”!

The former ambassador of the United States of America to Serbia, Christopher Hill, has been given the position of senior advisor in the “Pupin Initiative”, an organization whose proclaimed goal is to deepen cooperation between Serbia and the U.S.

As executive director Vuk Velebit told Nova, Christopher Hill will do this job pro bono, so he will not be paid. The main reason for his engagement is an attempt to strengthen Serbia’s ties with Democrats in the American Congress.

As for Hill’s cooperation with the regime of Aleksandar Vučić and the support he openly gave them, especially during the last year of his mandate, Velebit says that they are not interested in that.

The “Pupin Initiative” announced on Monday that Christopher Hill has become their senior advisor.

“This is another step in strengthening our presence in Washington in the foreign policy circles of members of both parties. With this, the Pupin Initiative continues its bipartisan mission of strengthening relations between Serbia and the U.S. through cooperation with Republicans and Democrats,” their statement reads.

Ambassador Hill, as they stated in his biography, is a veteran of American diplomacy with a distinguished career in the American foreign service.

“Most recently, he served as ambassador to Serbia (2022-2024), following previous missions as ambassador to Iraq, South Korea, Poland, and North Macedonia. He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and led the U.S. delegation to the six-party talks on North Korea. Ambassador Hill continues to enjoy great respect in the foreign policy circles of the Democratic Party,” the Initiative pointed out.

Hill is influential in Democratic circles

“We had a conversation with Ambassador Hill after he finished his mandate, and this is part of the Pupin Initiative’s strategy to strengthen its presence in Washington. From the first day of our work, we have been officially registered in both Washington and Belgrade, with our focus this year being on strengthening our organization in the U.S. In cooperation with the American Congress, we are talking to a large number of people in the Congress itself, in the administration, with other organizations in Washington… The goal of the Pupin Initiative is to position itself as a leading think tank in Washington, not only when it comes to Serbia, but the entire Western Balkans region,” says Velebit.

In line with that strategy, he adds, it is very important for them to open new doors to both Democrats and Republicans.

“Since our organization is non-partisan, we talk to everyone. That’s how we came to talk to Ambassador Hill, but also with Kaush Arha, which went unnoticed in our public. He is a Republican who had a significant role in the first Trump mandate, when he was the main architect of the energy agreement between Japan and America. He is quite involved in relations with Eastern European countries, and now he is also engaged as our senior advisor.”

Neither Hill nor Kaush will be paid for this work, Velebit claims.

“Given that Hill is not in an ambassadorial position, and that he is still influential in Democratic foreign policy circles, he can contribute to our stronger position. They are not employed by us; they are engaged like other people who make up our expert board. They are not paid, all our advisors work pro bono. We are not funded by grants from either Serbia or the U.S.; we are funded exclusively through donations, from Serbs from America, as well as our successful people from here. They will advise us on access to decision-makers, members of Congress, and on the topics we will deal with in the coming period and proposing ways and fields where Serbia and America can cooperate more.”

While he was the U.S. ambassador to Serbia, and especially in the last year of his mandate, Hill was perceived in the domestic public as someone who openly supports the regime of Aleksandar Vučić. Let’s recall, in the days of the post-election crisis in December 2023, when we had protests by the opposition and citizens due to election theft, Hill expressed hope that after everything, we would all be able to “rest” with our families and enjoy the New Year and Christmas holidays.

Then he said that he was looking forward to cooperating with the new Government of Serbia, while at the same time two U.S. senators were calling for an investigation into the election theft. A photo of Hill with Ivan Bošnjak, co-owner of “Millennium Team”, a company close to the SNS, then appeared in public. As could be seen, the photo was taken in a vineyard.

When asked if the support Hill gave to the regime in Serbia was controversial for them as an organization, Velebit says that they are not interested in that.

We don’t have time to lose

“As an organization that deals with relations between Serbia and America, we are absolutely not interested in who is in power today or tomorrow, both in America and in Serbia. Because that is the only way to move relations forward. We have already lost several decades in the relations between Serbia and America and we don’t have time to lose. The most important thing for us was how Ambassador Hill can help in Washington and what his influence is in Democratic circles,” says Velebit and concludes:

“We were guided by the fact that this is a man who has been the American ambassador to different countries five times, that he has been in different administrations, that he is a man with great foreign policy experience and that this is an opportunity for our country. From the moment the news came out that Hill had joined us as a senior advisor, we, as an organization, have been under heavy attack from lobbyists from Albania, quasi-patriots, and bots on Twitter. And when you are attacked from all sides like that, it is an indicator that this appointment was a good move.”