Minister: Serbia Is Ending Kushner Firm's Generalstab Deal

Aleksandra Sofronijevic, the caretaker Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, confirmed on November 14, in a written answer to the portal Insajder, that the Serbian government decided back in August 2026 to terminate the Generalstab contract with Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, a firm linked to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. According to her, the formal termination should be completed early next week.

The unofficial news of the termination was first published by the Belgrade weekly Vreme, and the minister has now publicly confirmed for the first time that the decision is several months old. In her answer, Sofronijevic wrote:

“In August of this year, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted a conclusion on terminating this contract. The conclusion included a draft agreement, which provides that all potential claims between the contracting parties cease once it is concluded. The contract is in the process of formalization, and completion is expected early next week, about which you will be informed.”

She also promised to send Insajder the conclusion itself on Monday.

What is official and what is only reported?

Sources differ on the current state of affairs. On November 15, citing Vreme, N1 reported that Serbia has formally terminated the contract. The minister says something different: that the contract is still being formalized and that completion has only been announced. The gap between a government conclusion on termination and a signed termination agreement, as she described it in her answer, therefore remains open.

What did the contract provide?

Serbia signed the contract with Kushner’s firm in May 2024. It was kept secret from the public and later published by the weekly Radar. It provided for a joint company in which the American partner would hold 77.5 percent and Serbia 22.5 percent. The state committed to removing the cultural monument status from the Generalstab complex, carrying out the demolition of the buildings and handing over the land free of charge on a 99-year lease, with the option of converting it into ownership at no cost.

If Serbia failed to meet its obligations by May, the American firm could terminate the contract and recover its costs. In its November 14 article, Insajder gives the deadline as “by May of next year,” and in its November 15 article as “by May 2026.”

A luxury residential and commercial complex with towers and a casino was planned on the site of the building bombed in 1999. The government lifted the Generalstab’s protected status in November 2024, and the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office and some experts say that was done unlawfully.

Kushner pulled out almost a year ago

Kushner’s firm announced that it was withdrawing from the project “at this time,” shortly after the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment proposal in December 2025. Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic, former state secretary Slavica Jelacic, acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Goran Vasic and acting director of the Belgrade Institute Aleksandar Ivanovic are on trial before the Special Department of the court.

All are charged with abuse of office, and Selakovic, Jelacic and Vasic also with forging an official document. They deny guilt. The next hearing is expected on November 23.

What does the opposition say?

The first reaction came on November 15. Estela Radonjic Zivkov, a Student List candidate and conservator who was among those who warned most loudly two years ago about the lifting of the Generalstab’s protection, told Insajder she does not understand why the public is only now learning of a conclusion adopted three months ago. Her question reads:

“If Kushner gave up in December last year, why was that conclusion not adopted then, and the contract long since terminated?”

She added: “I fear that something else is the intention behind this termination.” Insajder also reports that she suspects a non-transparent contract may have been signed with some other partner in the background. As the cause of her distrust, she cited: “90 percent of the contracts signed by the government led by the Serbian Progressive Party have never been seen by citizens.”

Radonjic Zivkov also announced that, once a new Assembly is convened, the first step would be to legally restore the Generalstab’s protection and annul the disputed decisions. “We also plan to raise the category of protection of the complex to a cultural property of exceptional importance,” she said.

Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta of Ecological Uprising spoke to N1 and called the Generalstab a “monument to courage.” According to him, a document authorizing Goran Vesic to hand the land to Kushner’s side for 99 years was delivered to Ecological Uprising by one person, a woman. Cuta said:

“So a rebellion happened at this place, and what matters is this: that it never again occurs to anyone, whoever governs this country, that they can conclude secret conventions with all sorts of Kushners, with Rio Tinto, with Dandies. That it can never occur to anyone again. And that the law is followed. Whoever signed this, whoever passed the lex specialis, was tearing down the state. They must answer for it.”

Cuta is also demanding the termination of the contract with Rio Tinto, the annulment of all contracts with investors and the publication of documents: “All documents, all contracts must be opened, so everything passed with Rio Tinto must be annulled, which was also done behind the people’s back.”

The first concrete evidence of what the government adopted in August should arrive on Monday, when the minister said she would send the conclusion to Insajder. The court side of the story continues on November 23, at the hearing in the case against Selakovic and the three other defendants.