Last week, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed that the EU is allegedly preparing a “Serbian Maidan” for 1 November, on the anniversary of the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station, with the ultimate goal of bringing “compliant leadership” to power.
The President of Serbia has stated that he is “carefully analysing” the information from “Russian partners” and is even taking “certain measures.”
Read more about how the Serbian regime is trying to hold on amid large-scale protests and public dissatisfaction in the article by Western Balkans expert Volodymyr Tsybulnyk: Coup by the Russian playbook: why Serbia’s government accuses the EU of preparing a ‘Maidan’.
According to the Serbian president, the main organisers of the protests are “intelligence services of three countries.” Nebojša Bakarac, a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and a parliament deputy, stated that these are the intelligence agencies of Croatia, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Incidentally, these three countries are among Serbia’s largest investors and trading partners, which makes it unclear why they would want a revolution in a country where they have profitable businesses.
The attention given to yet another “revelation” from Russian intelligence indicates that mass protests are gradually undermining the authority of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
It also shows that the Serbian authorities fear the anniversary of the Novi Sad tragedy and are ready for any provocations to minimise risks for themselves.
The terms “Serbian Maidan” and “color revolution” became the most frequently used phrases last week in statements by government representatives and in pro-government media.
The authorities have partially achieved their goal – once again, fears of a “Serbian Maidan” (whether it will happen or not) and a “colour revolution” have permeated society.
In addition, the military parade on 20 September, which many called Serbia’s response to the parade in Croatia marking the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm, revived fears of the potential start of a new war.
It appears that an information-propaganda operation is underway.
The Stalinist-bureaucratic language of the aforementioned Russian “document” is full of “hunts” for various Croatian-EU spies, accusations against “EU bureaucrats,” warnings about “colour revolutions” in Serbia and mentions of the “unifying influence” of the Serbian Orthodox Church (a loyal ally of the FSB-aligned Russian Orthodox Church).
This suggests that some of the report’s authors were Serbian. The editor-in-chief of the popular weekly Vreme, Filip Švarm, speculates about the involvement of Aleksandar Vulin (a close ally of Vučić, former head of Serbia’s Ministry of Defence and Security and Information Agency), who has collaborated with Russian intelligence for years and today maintains close contacts with the Russian army and intelligence services, including the head of SVR, Sergey Naryshkin.
It is also surprising that this information from Russian intelligence reached the press and received wide publicity, even though intelligence cooperation is, in the vast majority of cases, quiet, non-public and secret.
Thus, the SVR’s information appears to be another attempt to pressure Serbia’s leadership due to “hesitation in handling the protests” and an effort to discredit the EU in the eyes of Serbian society.
The other consequences of this provocation will become clear on 1 November – a day that promises to be extremely tense in Serbia.
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