Serbia’s ambassador to Spain, Irena Šarac, has drawn ridicule and criticism on social media after apparently kissing a Dutch flag in the belief that it was Serbia’s, before turning towards the camera and making a three-finger gesture.
MADRID, Sept 22 (BalkanView) – Serbia’s ambassador to Spain, Irena Šarac, has become the subject of online ridicule after footage circulated showing her kissing what appeared to be the flag of the Netherlands, apparently mistaking it for the Serbian flag.
After kissing the red-white-blue tricolour, Šarac turned towards the camera and raised three fingers, a gesture widely associated with Serbian national identity.
The Serbian and Dutch flags use the same three colours, but in a different order: Serbia’s horizontal tricolour is red, blue and white, while the Dutch flag is red, white and blue.
The episode prompted jokes and criticism on social media, with users focusing on the unusual mistake by a serving diplomat.
Šarac is a career diplomat who has worked in Serbia’s foreign service for more than a decade, including assignments connected with Greece and China, before becoming ambassador in Madrid.
The incident also revived discussion in Serbian and regional media about an older controversy involving Šarac’s posting at Serbia’s embassy in Athens.
Serbian newspaper Blic reported in 2016 and again in 2018 that embassy records showed almost 31 tonnes of fuel had been booked over a period of less than two years. The newspaper reported that the amount was around six times the estimated realistic consumption based on the distance travelled by embassy vehicles.
The reports linked Šarac, then chargé d’affaires Branko Lazarević and diplomat Jelena Srdanović Dželebdžić to the disputed fuel records. Blic reported that information on the case had been provided by Serbia’s then-ambassador in Athens, Dušan Spasojević, to the Foreign Ministry, the prime minister’s office and Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency, BIA.
The allegations did not result in a criminal conviction against Šarac. Blic reported in 2018 that a pre-investigation procedure was under way at the time, while a Foreign Ministry official said none of those involved had been found guilty in any proceeding.
Šarac denied the allegations. When the controversy resurfaced before her appointment as ambassador to Spain in 2023, then-Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić strongly defended her, describing the accusations as false and saying checks conducted before her senior appointment had found no proceeding against her.
Šarac had also disputed reports that she was recalled from Athens at Greece’s request, saying she returned to Serbia at her own request.
The latest episode is far less consequential than those earlier allegations, but the visual mistake has given it immediate traction online: a Serbian ambassador kissing the Dutch flag before making a Serbian three-finger salute.