After Milošević was arrested by the police under the new Yugoslav government , the United States pressured Yugoslavia to extradite Milošević to the ICTY or lose financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank . In March 2001 , American economist Joseph Stiglitz traveled to Belgrade to talk to a prominent Democratic Opposition leader , Zoran Đinđić , about the potential consequences of IMF-sponsored austerity . On June 25 , 2001 , Stiglitz published a paper , " Serbia 's Advantages in Coming Late " , about the necessity for Serbia not to rush privatization and not to pursue " shock therapy " , which was the established macroeconomic advise of the Bretton Woods institutions . Đinđić , however , did not live long to analyze the advice of the Bretton Woods institutions or the anti-austerity plan of Stiglitz , as he was assassinated on March 12 , 2003 . This accumulated to a crescendo when G17 Plus got into an intense standoff with the Serbian government , composed mostly by DOS , due to the fact that G17 Plus continuously lobbied for the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro . Later , in May 2006 , Montenegro declared independence from the Serbo-Montenegrin state union ; the United States immediately respected the results and urged the new government in Podgorica to keep close ties with Serbia . The United States recognized Serbia as the official successor state of the Serbia and Montenegro and the preceding Yugoslav state
assassinated on March 12 , 2003
Assassination of Zoran Đinđić
Serbia–United States relations