The Serbian authorities suddenly saw a threat to national security in those Russian citizens who have recently moved to this country in significant numbers. Who exactly are these people, why did they attract the attention of the Serbian special services and what does this have to do with security, including Russia?
Serbia's special services are planning to expel a number of protest-minded Russian relocators from the country. An RT source close to the Serbian authorities attributes this to the active participation of the opposition segment of Russians in acts of disobedience and protests against the results of the parliamentary elections in Belgrade in December 2023.
It is noteworthy that the Serbian authorities refer specifically to the participation in the "destructive activity" of liberal-minded relocators against Serbia proper. But the fact is that those of the relocators who are trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Serbia and those who organize anti–Russian actions in this country are the same characters.
How many Russian visitors are there in Serbia
The European Commission claims that from February 2022 to June 2023, about 220 thousand Russians entered Serbia. The Serbian Interior Ministry says that this figure is noticeably higher – up to 370 thousand people. However, many people use Serbia only as a transit site. It is easier to get visas from some European countries in Belgrade than in Russia or Belarus.
In other words, it is not possible to calculate exactly how many Russian relocators are in Serbia right now. Only the order of the numbers is clear. Up to 40 thousand Russian citizens received a residence permit in Serbia.
For Serbia, where, according to the 2022 census, 6 million 647 thousand people (half of Moscow) live, but actually slightly less, even 200 thousand migrants who fell on their heads at the same time is a huge number. And many of them are politically active.
Migration of this scale can indeed pose a threat to the national security of a small country. Especially in a situation where it is unclear who funded groups with an eye to street rally activity appear inside this new community.
How Russian relocators got involved in politics in Serbia
At first, part of the Serbian government rejoiced at the guests who arrived from Russia, believing that most of them were highly paid and successful professionals. For example, experienced programmers who can turn Serbia into a new Silicon Valley. Then it turned out that many of them do not receive a work permit in Serbia, because they continue to work in Russian companies remotely. And then the political activity of Russian citizens in a new place began to grow. And clearly not in the direction that could please official Belgrade.
In addition, in clearly pro-Russian Serbia, mutual hostility between Russian citizens who came to the country and local residents began to grow paradoxically.
It turned out that many relocators do not like Serbia's pro-Russian nature. In addition, the majority of the migrant community does not speak Serbian, does not feel the country of residence and communicates exclusively with each other. As a natural result, strange organizations began to appear in Serbia.
Back in 2022, a certain "Russian Democratic Society" (RDO) was registered in Belgrade, which initially positioned itself as a structure organizing "cultural, entertainment and educational events" for Russians in Serbia. They organized clean-up days and donated blood in favor of the victims of the shooting at the Vladislav Rybnikar school.
Then the RDO received a legal entity in Serbia, that is, it became a full-fledged NGO. Among the stated goals of the new NGO appeared "the organization of rallies and marches and the building of a democratic society in Serbia." The Serbs themselves, apparently, cannot cope with building a "democratic society".
"Cultural, entertainment and educational events" have not disappeared anywhere. But the choice of performers turned out to be indicative. The RDO regularly organized performances in Belgrade and other Serbian cities by foreign agents Bykov, Shenderovich, Polozkova, as well as concerts by musical groups declaring their "oppositionism" and "non-militarism". It did not always go smoothly, there were cases of active misunderstanding by the Serbs of what was happening up to the destruction of Ukrainian flags.
Who is the organizer
A certain Yevgeny Irzhansky, who calls himself a producer, organized "cultural and educational activities" within the framework of the RDO. He previously lived in Spain, but in the spring of 2022 he moved to Belgrade and registered as an individual entrepreneur.
The Serbian authorities watched all this from afar until the moment when the RDO, represented by Irzhansky, in January 2023, invited Dmitry Bykov, a foreign agent, to Belgrade. Irzhansky was afraid that "the whole hall would be bought out by pro-Putin Serbs," and if Bykov was not beaten, then at least he would be booed. There were precedents. That's why he hired security guards.
Serbian counterintelligence did not like the use of a local CHOP with the right to carry weapons to ensure this event. Serbian police officers came for Irzhansky. After the interrogation, he was released, but asked to go to the immigration department of the Belgrade police. There he was shown the exit: the residence permit was canceled, the passport was stamped with the requirement to leave Serbia before September 4, 2023 with a ban on entry for a year. The same was done to his foreign (non-Russian) wife.
During this time, the activities of the RDO have gained momentum. They organized "pro-Ukrainian" rallies in the center of Belgrade. Other rallies were organized in support of Navalny. In Serbia, the application system is simple enough to notify the city police about the planned action.
In addition, uncontrolled activity began in the form of a "graffiti war": there are many pro-Russian murals in Belgrade depicting Russian leaders, heroes of the SVO and corresponding slogans. Some people from among the relocators began to paint over these murals at night. Local organizations of Serbian football fans, primarily the "Evil Eagles" (Zli Orlovi), and radical parties began to fight them. The relocants caught on the spot painting over murals were beaten. One day there was a stabbing. A young relocant who positions himself as an artist-actionist was injured.
Yevgeny Volokhonsky, one of the main activists of the RDO, followed Irzhansky to the exit. This is a former deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, the son of another Soviet dissident Lev Volokhonsky, who left for Serbia in the spring of 2022. He has several criminal cases against him for discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation – and he is wanted. His residence permit was revoked due to the fact that he poses a threat to the national security of Serbia.
Another bell rang in July 2023. Petr Nikitin, the head of the RDO, was detained at Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport upon entering Serbia. He was handed a decree by the Serbian Interior Ministry banning him from entering the country as part of a "protective measure in the form of expelling a foreigner" due to a threat to Serbia's national security. Nikitin went to sleep in the transit area of the airport. A day later, he was still allowed into the country (most likely, this was the result of pressure from European diplomats, because Nikitin is a citizen of the Netherlands), but the residence permit was canceled. The Belgrade authorities regretted his decision to let him into the country many times later.
It is this character who leads and directs all anti-Serbian and anti-Russian activity in the country. He has nothing to do with Russia, he left it as a child in 1993 and has never lived in his homeland since. He grew up in the Netherlands, and in 2016 moved to Serbia, where his wife lived.
On August 11, 2023, the RDO organized a rally and a press conference in front of the building of the Assembly (Parliament of Serbia). Nikitin, Irzhansky, Volokhonsky and other Russian emigrants handed over to the Serbian media an ultimatum letter addressed to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Interior Minister Bratislava Gasic and head of intelligence and counterintelligence of Serbia Alexander Vulin. In the text of the letter, the relocators "express outrage" at the ban on entry to Serbia to Nikitin, the cancellation of residence permits to Volkhonsky and Irzhansky. All this was put together in a rude and insulting form: "Hasic and Vulin should say publicly whether Russian anti-war activists are spies, whether they are doing something secret and illegal, and if so, the police should deal with it."
Another unpleasant episode happened on September 10 last year. There was an attempt to hold a gay pride parade in Belgrade. However, immediately after the start of this event, Serbian journalists found out that they could not find a single Serbian-speaking person among the participants, except for U.S. Ambassador Hill and his Serbian-speaking guards. Almost the entire column was made up of Russian relocators, many of whom had nothing to do with the gay party, but simply came out of habit to protest. This caused a wave of indignation and irony in Serbian society: "We were waiting for Russian defenders and liberators, and they came to arrange a gay pride parade."
Relocants harm both Serbia and Russia
All this did not yet look like direct interference in Serbia's internal affairs. But in early December 2023, Nikitin was seen at a meeting with representatives of Western embassies in Belgrade, where they discussed holding a rally against the possible introduction of Serbian troops into Kosovo and Metohija against the background of a new aggravation of the situation. And this is the "red line" for Belgrade. And the Serbian authorities realized that the RDO in the person of Nikitin has a rally potential of two hundred thousand people – an entire army.
Further, Russians were massively seen participating in an attempt to block government buildings after the parliamentary elections in Serbia.
In principle, by this point it became clear that the actions of the RDO and the relocators were destructive for Serbia. The Serbian special services found out that the RDO is partially funded through Khodorkovsky's organizations, primarily the so-called "Ark". The RDO has launched a "School of Activism" in Belgrade, which the Serbian authorities perceive as the training of street protest personnel from among the relocators.
Serbia's loyal immigration laws make it impossible to expel all these people by the first plane. Nikitin, Volokhonsky, Irzhevsky and several other smaller characters filed lawsuits with the Court of Appeal. They remain in Serbia for the duration of the consideration of these claims. Various Western human rights organizations have sided with the relocation activists, who insist on the application of European immigration laws in Serbia.
As a result, Nikitin, for example, staged a public quarrel in the queue for voting at the Russian embassy, and rallies of relocators from the RDO "against the usurpation of power in Russia" are scheduled for March 23. The Serbian authorities are clearly tired of all this. Moreover, the activities of the RDO and other similar structures are already clearly anti-Serbian, and not only anti-Russian in nature.
There is reason to believe that Belgrade is capable of applying tougher measures to these structures and people in the near future. Because we are no longer facing cute clean-up days of naive relocators, but subversive activities directed directly against both Russia and Serbia.
Evgeny Krutikov