Serbian entrepreneur Dragan Šolak, known as the founder and long-time leader of the United Group, compared former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who just didn't have such a large country and nuclear weapons.

According to Nedeljnik, Šolak appeared in public after many years in Split, at the conference "KOMferencija - What happens when you become news", where he spoke for the first time about Vučić, the student victory and the future of N1 and Nova, the English section of Vijesti.me reports.

He said that he had not been to Serbia for ten years, and that this would be the most important thing for him since his mother is 91 and has difficulty traveling. His children, he says, are the proudest of him because of N1, but he has no intention of returning to the media.

He said that for years he had predicted that he would be arrested upon arrival in Serbia. "I would end up in prison and die there trying to prove my innocence."

He says he was preparing a lawsuit in Switzerland when Vučić ceased to be the president of the country, and when he did not have immunity, and that he believes he stopped attacking him when he heard that, Nedeljnik reports.

Šolak explained the creation of N1 from the perspective of the telecommunications business. He calculated that quality sports and news would attract people. He had a network that reached their apartments. He needed to offer them a reason to choose that network.

Šolak says he and Vučić were at odds over exactly how N1 journalists should work. He described his role as that of an owner who left it up to the editors and journalists to work according to the rules of the profession. He also said that it was easier for him, who lived outside Serbia and had the money to protect himself, than for the people who went out into the field every day. He attributed some of the credit for the social change initiated by the student movement to them.

Šolak described his departure from United Group in Split with the image of a man who spent years building a house, and then one day could no longer enter it. He said that he enjoyed those 25 years and that the moment he was removed hit him hard, but that he was proud that the entire core team left with him.

"I don't see myself in that story anymore. I'm not in the process of getting N1 and Nova back," said Šolak.

"I hope that all television stations in Serbia today are N1 and Nova, that RTS will become a true public service and that people who have proven themselves as professional journalists will get the opportunity to run large media outlets. So, since I am no longer interested in it socially or professionally, I want to play football," he said.

Regarding his life after United Group, according to a report from Split, Šolak finally said only: "My life is much better now," as it will be for N1 and Nova after the change of government in Serbia. He sees the future of media through an influencer type of media.

"You trust a person, a journalist or a media outlet that what they say is verified and accurate. The main thing is who says it, what they say it, and how they say it," he said.