President recalls Serbia's ambassador to Britain

President recalls Serbia's ambassador to Britain

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "interpreted" the decree as "a part of standard procedures, as Pribicevic's mandate is expiring this year."

Pribicevic was fairly active as a foreign policy analyst before he became a diplomat, the agency is reporting, noting that he served as ambassador to Germany before his London posting. He was also Vuk Draskovic's deputy, when the SPO leader served as Serbia's foreign minister in the mid-2000s.

In June, Pribicevic was in the British press for his "trouble" with first-door neighbors in what the tabloids termed "an exclusive London cul-de-sac" where Winston Churchill once lived.

Namely, the ambassador was among the neighbors of former model Lady Sophia Hamilton and her banker fiance Hashem Arouzi who spoke against their plans to extend their townhouse.

Some Belgrade media, citing their London colleagues, said at the time that Pribicevic had lodged an official complaint with the British Foreign Office.

According to the British press, he sent a letter to Kensington and Chelsea council, saying that if the extension proposal went ahead, "the residents and their guests will have direct insight of what goes on in my garden, glasshouse, and bedroom."

"It would not only affect my diplomatic activities but also seriously undermine the privacy of the ambassador and his family," the letter reportedly read.

The Serbian MFA said they were "not acquainted" with the complaint, while Tanjug noted on Thursday that the outcome of the case that allegedly upset the Serbian diplomat was "unknown."

The Daily Mail wrote in June that Sophia Hamilton and Hashem Arouzi, whose house is said to be worth around EUR 14 million, "angered others in the cul-de-sac in 2015 with plans to create a mega-basement with a swimming pool" but "eventually withdrew the proposal."