Aleksandar Vucic is actually considered to be close to Russia, but now he is angry. Serbia’s president disrupts a recruiting advertisement by the Wagner group.
Belgrade – The notorious mercenary group Wagner around Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin wants to recruit fighters for the Ukraine war in Serbia. There is a controversial advertisement that aired this month on the Serbian branch of the Russian state broadcaster RT. In it, the mercenary force called on Serbs to fight in Ukraine. More recruiting videos circulated on social media, as the Times reported.
Vucic criticizes Wagner advertising: “Why are you doing this to Serbia?”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic reacted with outrage at these attempts. “Why are you doing this to Serbia? Why are you calling on Wagner to do this, even though it’s against the regulations?” Vucic asked in a television interview broadcast on Monday evening, according to the Beta news agency. Vucic’s remarks are a rare criticism of the Serbian president towards Russia – Moscow is a close ally of the Balkan country.
Alongside Belarus, Serbia is the only European country that does not support the West’s sanctions against Russia, even though Vucic’s government has condemned the invasion. Many Serbs support the Russian attack on Ukraine, and there have also been pro-Russian demonstrations in the capital, Belgrade.
A small number of Serbs have fought alongside Russian-backed forces in Ukraine after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in spring 2014. The authorities have not yet published an exact figure. On Tuesday, Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency published footage purporting to show two Serbian nationals taking part in weapons training in Ukraine. (as/dpa)
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