Nenad Popović ( sr-cyr, Ненад Поповић; born 30 September 1966) is a Serbian politician and businessman who served as

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

since 2024, previously serving that role from 2017 to 2022. A long-time member of the

Democratic Party of Serbia The New Democratic Party of Serbia (, , abbr. NDSS), known as the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) until 2022, is a national-conservative political party in Serbia. Miloš Jovanović serves as the current president of NDSS. DSS was formed as ...

(DSS), he left the party in 2014 and formed the Serbian People's Party (SNP).

Biography

Early years and education

Popović was born in

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, on 30 September 1966, son of Nemanja Popović, university professor and academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and of Danica, professor of history. He graduated from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

Faculty of Machine Engineering. He finished his

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and doctoral studies at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

's Faculty of Economics. He was a professor at the Faculty of Economy of Moscow's Lomonosov University and the Faculty of Economics of the Moscow State Mining University.

Political career

From 2006 to 2008 he was the head of the economic team for Kosovo and Metohija. He led the development of the Strategy for Long-Term Economic Development of Serbian Communities in Kosovo and Metohija. At the same time, he was vice-president and later deputy chairman of the Coordination Body for the Presevo,

Bujanovac Bujanovac ( sr-cyr, Бујановац, ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, town and Municipalities and cities of Serbia, municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the municipality has a population of ...

and Medvedja municipalities. Former deputy president of DSS, president of the DSS Economic Council and deputy in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. As Vice-President of the

National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ), fully the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (), is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are ...

, he was one of the main observers of the electoral process in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

. His name was mentioned in the

Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche Z ...

in connection to owning several off-shore companies. Value of his business undertakings reaches 100 million dollars, making him officially the richest Serbian politician. On 29 June 2017, he was named the

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in the

Government of Serbia The government of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Governme ...

in the charge of the innovations and technological development. On 3 July 2017, Aleksandr Chepurin, Russian Federation Ambassador to Serbia, made a first official visit to Popović after being sworn as minister. In July 2019 Popovic stated that "there was no

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

Srebrenica Srebrenica ( sr-cyrl, Сребреница, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War in 1995, Srebr ...

and Serbs will never accept to be stamped as genocidal people." He said Serbia should rethink its goal of becoming a European Union member because of such claims.

Other businesses

Popović is the owner and president of the international company ABS Electro which employs over three thousand people, engaged in the production of electrical-technical equipment, creating advanced engineering solutions for a variety of industries such as

electrical power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

, and others. He is the president of the Foundation "Russian Necropolises" from Belgrade, which was responsible for the project of reconstruction of the complex of memorial monuments Russian necropolises in the New Cemetery in Belgrade. Popović is also member of the Board of the International Fun of Unity of Orthodox Nations.

Sanctions

On 16 November 2023 the U.S. Department of State sanctioned Nenad Popović pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating in or having operated in the electronics sector of the Russian Federation economy. A number of companies controlled by Popović were also sanctioned.

Awards and honors

* Medal of Holy Sergey Radoniesky, for exceptional contribution to the development and straightening of relations among

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

Christian nations, awarded by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia * Medal of Holy Daniel of Moscow, for the spiritual renaissance of Russia, awarded by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia * Medal of Humanity Award of the State Union Serbia and Montenegro for

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

work and exceptional contribution and help to the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

, for special contribution to the development of economic and social relationships between Serbia and Russia, awarded by the

President of the Russian Federation The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...

; * Order of the Saint Sava of the Second Grade, for the renewal and strengthening of faith and the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...

, awarded by the

Serbian Patriarch This is a list of heads of the Serbian Orthodox Church, since the establishment of the church as an Autocephaly, autocephalous archbishopric in 1219 to today's patriarchate. The list includes all the archbishops and patriarchs that led the Se ...

* Order of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, for a special contribution to the revival of monasteries, churches, temples as well as church-social activism, awarded by the Patriarch of Moscow and all RussiaBiografija Nenada Popovića
SNP, pristupljeno: 22. januara 2015.

References

External links

29 June 2013 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popovic, Nenad Living people 1966 births Politicians from Tuzla Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering alumni Moscow State University alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University Democratic Party of Serbia politicians Serbian People's Party (2014) politicians Serbian businesspeople Serbian sports executives and administrators FK Partizan presidents Government ministers of Serbia People named in the Paradise Papers Members of the National Assembly (Serbia)