Belgrade, 3 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) — Aleksandar Vulin, the head of Serbia's secret service who is considered close to Moscow, unexpectedly resigned on Friday, citing pressure from the West in a statement published in Serbian media.

"The US and the EU are demanding my head as a precondition for not imposing sanctions on Serbia," he wrote in the statement.

He did not want to be the reason for blackmail and pressure on Serbia, he added.

His resignation as head of the domestic intelligence agency (BIA) was therefore "irrevocable," he said.

Vulin, a close confidant of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, held the post at the helm of the BIA for a year.

He was defence minister from 2017 to 2020 and interior minister from 2020 to 2022.

While Vučić seeks to show he is balancing between the West and Russia, 51-year-old Vulin is seen as openly sympathetic to the Kremlin.

He frequently visited Moscow and maintained operational relations with the Russian secret services. Washington imposed sanctions on him in July.

Serbia is the only country among the south-eastern European EU hopefuls that has not imposed sanctions on Moscow following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The West is also urging the Balkan country to finally find a settlement with Kosovo.

The country, which is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, declared its independence in 2008, though this is not recognized by Belgrade which sees it as a breakaway province, a stance encouraged by Moscow.