A new generation of Serbian nationalists is preparing for a war in Bosnia, reveals the British media outlet “The Telegraph”.
Hundreds of militants have traveled to Ukraine to fight alongside Russian troops in the belief that “Mother Russia” will reward them by helping them reclaim lost territories, such as Kosovo.
Nationalists, including veterans of the Bosnian War, are using social media to encourage young Serbs to join them in Russia. Some are offering up to £23 for them to sign up and fight in Ukraine.
There are fears that once they return home to Bosnia, they will incite a paramilitary conflict, 30 years after the end of the Bosnian war.
Dario Ristic was one such case. A Serbian nationalist, limping on a prosthetic leg and holding proof of his newly acquired citizenship, he returned to Bosnia. He had been wounded while fighting in Ukraine with the Russian unit known as the “Perm Bears.”
While in Ukraine, Ristic became known by the infamous war nickname “the quick” and for carrying out sniper and drone attacks on towns like Avdiivka.
He honed his social media skills on sites like TikTok and a Russian social network Vkontakte, garnering support from politically disaffected young Serbs back home, glorifying frontline fighting and spreading nationalist messages.
His Russian unit even sent a birthday card to Ratko Mladic, the war criminal who is receiving palliative care in The Hague, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment for atrocities committed against Bosnian Muslims.
In a video posted on Telegram, Ristic posed next to a fellow Serb who informed his audience in his homeland: “As soon as we are done with these NATO fascists here, we will return to reclaim what is ours. Glory to God, glory to ‘Mother Russia’ – to victory.”
Upon returning to his homeland, Ristic was arrested at Sarajevo Airport for joining a foreign paramilitary unit, but has since been released from prison and placed under house arrest pending the conclusion of his trial.
Contacted by The Telegraph at his home in Modrica, he said from the doorstep: “I would like to speak to you. But the law forbids me from speaking to you, but maybe in the future.”
Even now away from the front, he is still considered a major recruitment risk as he has over 10 followers online.
And he is joined online by other nationalists who are trying to spread their message.
It is mainly a group of nationalist veterans who fought in Bosnia, who continue to instill divisive ideologies in young people.
“It is a common lesson among these extremists that ‘Mother Russia’ will one day repay their debt in blood by helping them restore Greater Serbia,” said Srecko Latal, a political analyst in the region. “Their numbers are small, but they help attract disaffected Serbian youth who may be susceptible to nationalist messages. Like the IRA in Northern Ireland, you don’t need many armed individuals to threaten the balance of peace.”
Another person who is having an influence on young people is Davor Savičić, known as “the wolf” by his online followers.
During the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 90s, he fought in the paramilitary unit known as “Arkan’s Tigers,” which is responsible for many atrocities committed against civilians. When Russia entered the war, Savic rushed to join them. He fought in Crimea and Syria and was part of the now-disbanded Wagner Group.
Having recently been treated for a shrapnel wound inflicted by Ukrainian forces, leaked medical reports revealed that he was also a colonel in the dreaded GRU, the same Russian intelligence unit responsible for the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain on Sergei Skripal.
Under his direction, the GRU has created a series of front companies in sectors such as construction, with the aim of helping Serbs and other volunteers evade detection by their authorities, by issuing work permits and arranging travel itineraries through third countries.
“We infiltrated some of their messaging services posing as volunteers,” says Nino Bilajac, an investigative journalist from Sarajevo. “The money offered has increased as battlefield losses make Russia more desperate for new fighters, and recently I was offered an advance payment of around £23, and a monthly salary of almost £2500.”
For young people raised in nationalist families and living in towns like Modrica with high unemployment and wages equivalent to around £500, the lure is very clear. Laws in both Serbia and Bosnia prohibit fighting for a foreign state, and penalties can run up to five years in prison, but enforcement is rare.
When contacted via social media by The Telegraph, Zeljko Tomic, a friend of Ristic’s who is still on the front lines in Ukraine, said he would only give an interview for a fee of £100.
In Modrica, where the largest employer is a Russian-owned oil refinery that is now struggling due to sanctions, a local resident who knew Ristic said he had boasted about his disability pension from Moscow as a war veteran and was planning to use some of the money to open a training center and drone repair workshop, using his knowledge gained at the front.
However, Ristic’s return to civilian life will bring little solace to the Bosnian Muslim minority in the town of Modrica. Not far from his home is a mosque that was rebuilt after being destroyed during the bloody Bosnian war.
Edib Ziliq, who lives near the mosque, tells of many of the atrocities he experienced as a child.
“I was only 10 years old when the tanks came in and my father was dragged away, and my brother was almost killed when our neighbor’s house was destroyed,” said Zilic, 43, pointing to a residential area across from the mosque. “In some places, victims still have to meet their perpetrators, and even today, despite all the restored friendships, there is still a minority of extremists who want to scare us and want to take us back to those evil times, but we refuse to live in fear.”
Worrying, as there are signs of state complicity.
Milorad Dodik, former president of the Republika Srpska entity, who still exercises effective power, was photographed with “the wolf” Davor Savic, ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this year.
There are also fears that paramilitary training in the Russian-backed area could also affect British security. Just as the former East Germany was a training ground for the IRA and the Red Army Faction, there are fears that Republika Srpska could follow a similar path. Witness statements from a recent trial of saboteurs in Moldova have revealed that it has recently been used as a training base for Russian-backed hybrid warfare against the West.
The training included methods for turning peaceful protests into violent riots, and training in using drones – both with and without explosives – to disrupt civilian and military infrastructure. The same methods have already been used at airports and sensitive sites in the UK and across Europe, some of which involved Moldovan saboteurs possibly trained in Republika Srpska.