The case of 11 Serbian citizens arrested on suspicion of committing a series of racist acts in Paris and Berlin is also under investigation. According to the Serbian police, these acts were directed against the Jewish and Muslim communities, with the aim of increasing tensions in society.
Paramilitary camps, spreading racial and religious hatred, espionage in Europe, the persecution of Russian opposition activists and sheltering expelled Russian diplomats. These are some of the affairs that connect Russia with Serbia. Serbian authorities, which maintain friendly relations with the Kremlin, have so far not solved any of them. “Laboring Russian structures as inspiration or organizers would mean an open hardening of relations with Russia,” Maja Bjeloš of the non-governmental Belgrade Center for Security Policy tells Radio Free Europe.
Belgrade relies on Moscow, not only because of its opposition to Kosovo’s independence, but also because of its dependence on gas. Serbia is one of the few European countries that has not imposed sanctions against Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Official contacts have not been interrupted even four years after the start of the war, despite calls from the European Union and the United States for Belgrade to distance itself from Moscow. “The presence of Russian services in Serbia is a signal, both to the West and to local actors, that Russia still has access and influence in Serbia,” Bjellosh adds.
TRAINING CAMPS
The case of the Russian paramilitary camp, discovered near the Drina River in western Serbia in September 2025, is still under investigation. “The suspects have been questioned, witnesses have been interviewed. The necessary expertise is in the process,” the High Public Prosecutor’s Office in the town of Šabac told Radio Free Europe. The office is investigating Lazar Popović from Belgrade and Sava Stevanović from Loznica. On February 6, Popović’s pre-trial detention was replaced with several guarantees, the High Court in Šabac told Radio Free Europe, while Stevanović was released on October 17, after witness interviews. It is suspected that the combat-tactical training, organized at the “Suncana Reka” tourist facility, was intended to provide physical resistance to the Moldovan Police, in the event of unrest during election day, on September 28, 2025. Both of them are connected to the pro-Russian minister without portfolio in the Serbian Government, Nenad Popović.
Lazar Popović was previously his advisor, while Stevanović was initially a member of Popović’s Serbian People’s Party (SNP), and then of “Healthy Serbia” – part of the ruling coalition. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić later stated that authorities in Serbia had determined that three Russian citizens were in the camp. However, he did not link the camp to Russian intelligence services. Russia is not officially mentioned in the announcements of the Serbian Police and Prosecutor’s Office either.
The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that 150 to 170 citizens from Moldova and Romania participated in the combat-tactical training in “Suncana Reka”. As part of the investigation in Moldova, over 70 people were detained, most of whom are suspected of having trained in Serbia. They are accused of preparing mass unrest and destabilizing Moldova ahead of the parliamentary elections on September 28, where the pro-European ruling party won a landslide victory over the pro-Russian coalition.
The Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to REL’s questions about the stage of the investigation and whether there is any new information in this case. Russia has denied involvement in the Moldovan election process. A court in Moldova, meanwhile, has convicted three people for organizing trainings during 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Bosnia and Herzegovina has also opened a case related to trainings that were held in this country during 2024.
INVOCATION OF RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS HATE IN PARIS AND BERLIN
The investigation also includes the case of 11 Serbian citizens arrested on suspicion of committing a series of racist acts in Paris and Berlin. According to the Serbian police, these acts were directed against the Jewish and Muslim communities, with the aim of increasing tensions in society. They were arrested at the end of September 2025 in Smederevo – 60 kilometers south of Belgrade. Regarding the current status of the suspects, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty did not receive a response from the High Prosecutor’s Office in Smederevo.
In December, the prosecutor’s office told REL that the detention of 9 suspects had been extended, while it was not known whether the measure had been extended for 2 others who had previously been transferred to house arrest. Following the arrests, the Serbian Interior Ministry announced that a person, who is still at large, is suspected of having “based on the instructions of a foreign intelligence service” organized and trained a group of 14 Serbian citizens on the territory of Serbia. The High Prosecutor’s Office in Smederevo, in a statement to REL regarding the arrest of this person, stated that “at the moment, it is not possible to provide information, in order not to harm the investigations.” Two incidents, which occurred within a few months, shocked public opinion in France in 2025.
First, at the end of May, unknown persons threw green paint on the Holocaust Museum, three synagogues and a restaurant in the center of Paris. Then, at the beginning of September, pig heads were placed in front of nine mosques in Paris, while the name of French President Emmanuel Macron was written on some of them. Discriminatory messages were also written in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The investigative portal “Mediapart” from Paris wrote in November 2025 that the French secret service had managed to obtain internal Kremlin documents, from which it was seen that the Russian presidential administration had “directly approved” the destruction of Jewish monuments in May 2025. According to the summary of the report, the Kremlin aimed to “increase tensions” between the Jewish and Muslim communities in France, “in order to promote division within French society and weaken national cohesion”. The competent prosecutor’s office in France did not respond to REL’s questions regarding this information.
THE “RUSSIAN SPY” AFFAIR
In November 2019, a video surfaced online purporting to show a Russian intelligence agent giving money to a former member of the Serbian Army. According to senior Serbian officials, the video was recorded almost a year earlier, on December 24, 2018. The authenticity of the video was confirmed to the media by Rela Zhelski, head of analysis at the Security and Information Agency (BIA), saying that “the Russian agent, Georgij Kleban, was seen in it.” Although he initially called a meeting of the National Security Council, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, after meeting with Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Bocan-Kharchenko, declared that for him, the case of the Russian agent was closed. The High Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade told REL in December 2019 that this institution was not conducting any proceedings in connection with this case.
DEATH OF SDPR REPRESENTATIVE IN MOSCOW
The representative of the Serbian state-owned arms trading company, “Jugoimport-SDRP”, in Moscow, Radomir Kurtić, was found dead in the Russian capital in mid-November 2025. The news was published by pro-government media in Serbia a month later, claiming that the Serbian security services had informed the president of the state about the “suspicious death”. Vučić later confirmed the news, saying that official Belgrade is waiting for a response from the Russian services and that Moscow has not sent the forensic reports. He also added that he “does not want to participate in spreading suspicions and conspiracy theories”. The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to REL’s question whether the requested responses and reports have arrived from Russia.
SOUND BALL
Russian authorities came to the aid of official Belgrade during the massive anti-government protests and university blockades caused by the death of 16 people in an accident at the Novi Sad Railway Station. Official Belgrade demanded that Russian investigators conduct an “independent investigation” to determine whether a sonic cannon was used during the peaceful anti-government protest on March 15, 2025. Many videos published showed thousands of protesters scattering in panic after what they described as strong and unusual waves of noise and vibrations. A report by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in April 2025 said that, after tests, it had concluded that a sonic cannon – a weapon that is otherwise banned in Serbia – was not used. (RFE)