Serbia
Officially, Serbia did not deliver any rockets to Ukraine, and the rest is “not their concern”

In the rocket case, Serbia continues to deny it. Both the Serbian foreign minister and the defense ministry leader claim that Serbia did not officially supply rockets to Ukraine. Ivica Dačić, the Serbian foreign minister, stated that since the beginning of the Ukrainian war, Serbia has not exported or granted permission for the export of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, Russia, or any country that may be considered “problematic” from an international standpoint. However, during the recent weapons transport scandal, no one claimed that there was direct export to Ukraine, and that permission was granted for this purpose. We are trying to outline how the deal went, about which probably none of the participants knew all the details.
Mostly enjoyed the cabbage
In 2018, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, was a featured guest at the Guča brass band festival in the company of Ivica Dačić, and she did not conceal how happy she was to “relax” in Serbia.
Ivica Dačić was pleased to host the spokesperson, who, while listening to the brass bands, tried Serbian food specialties, with the meaty cabbage being her favorite.

Zaharova in good mood (Forrás: Blic)
Zaharova had so much fun that she even danced at least once.
However, this week, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not have the “urge to dance,” but rather to “give advice,” stating that Moscow expects an official explanation regarding the Serbian rockets sent to Ukraine.
As the Serbian foreign minister, Ivica Dačić was one of the officials responsible and, due to his acquaintance with Zakharova, may have felt it was his duty to respond, as they had “brassed” together in Guča five years ago.
Officially denied
Dačić also responded to the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, in which he did reject the responsibility of the Serbian state but did not completely dispel the suspicion that some involvement by a Serbian arms dealer was possible.
During a Belgrade conference held by Serbian diplomats in recent days, Dačić stated that Serbia has not exported or given permission to export weapons or military equipment to Ukraine, Russia, or any country considered problematic from an international perspective, since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict.
He suggested that if someone has information about this matter, then it is him because his ministry is involved in issuing export licenses.
However, Dačić added that he is talking about legal institutions that have export rights.

The signatory of the export permit (Screenshot)
The Serbian foreign minister is telling the truth, but the issue is not that simple, as the traces have been successfully erased, and it is uncertain whether the Belgrade government was aware of what was actually happening.
Recently, the Russian Mash news portal published a “confidential” Serbian export license issued on October 21, 2022, in Belgrade. However, the license was not issued by the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs but by the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunications, on behalf of the signatory, State Secretary Stevan Nikčević.
Presidential confirmation
On the day after this article was published, the Serbian president also confirmed that Serbia did not sell any weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, emphasizing this point with the Serbian saying “we are as clear as a tear drop.”
– said Aleksandar Vučić, who was in Qatar at the time. He did not, of course, comment on Serbian private companies dealing in arms trade. Regarding the relationship with Turkey, he stated that there is an obligation with regard to the deals made with Turkey, that the weapons supplied to them cannot be forwarded without Serbia's consent.
However, this document did not authorize the export of Serbian rockets to Ukraine, and everyone involved seemed to be quite cunning.
Yet, there may be some manipulation even within the document itself, as the Turkish company Arca, previously defined as the end-user, is listed with a Turkish name as an intermediary, while the Turkish Defense Industry Agency is named as the end-user, which is probably a translation of Arca into Serbian, written in Cyrillic letters.
So, Arca likely acted as an intermediary for itself, but it is hard to believe that the signatory did not notice or know this.
The Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs is certainly right in that the end user is not listed as Ukraine or Russia, but rather as a semi-Turkish state company, and the permit was not issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Based on these facts, it is also true that the Serbian state did not supply weapons to either Ukraine or Russia, and there are no permits/evidence to support that – someone else did it instead.
Earlier, the Serbian Defense Minister, Miloš Vučević, said in the Skupština (parliament) that Serbia does not export military equipment and weapons anywhere where it is not allowed, but added that “it is not Serbia's responsibility to determine whether private companies are buying and selling Serbian weapons to other countries' traders on third markets.”
Who was the proxy supplier?
If we interpret the above sentence, we can conclude that it might be about a company that is not under state supervision, but collaborates with a state-owned weapons factory. In this case, a privately owned weapons trader may be considered, whose company no longer acts on behalf of the Serbian state.
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Szerb rakétákkal lövik az ukránok az oroszokat, amelyeket a törökök által a szlovákoktól kaptak
The “Western-oriented” Serbian opposition press suspects Slobodan Tesic, a Serbian arms dealer, and not without reason.
If we take a closer look at the export license, it states that the goods owner is not the Serbian state, nor the Serbian state-owned Krušik company, but Sofag doo (limited liability company), which according to Belgrade media reports, is owned by Slobodan Tesic's daughter.
Presumably, Krušik sold or handed over the weapons to Sofag, or Sofag took over the shipment in its name, which landed in Turkey, where, according to Serbian ministerial approval, it could only be used for military purposes.
Therefore, the Serbian state is clean in terms of formalities, the exported weapons/rockets did not belong to Serbia, nor were they sold by Serbia or Serbian state-owned arms trading companies. According to the documents, Serbia did not supply weapons to either Ukraine or Russia, so the ministers were telling the truth, as we have already mentioned, or as stated in Belgrade, it is not Serbia's concern what private companies engaged in arms trading do.
Of course, the question may arise whether the Serbs knew what purpose the designated Turkish end-user (& intermediary) wanted to purchase the rockets for and what they intended to use them for. They were certainly not naive.
It is possible that they had no idea what the path of the rockets would be, although due to the proximity of the Ukrainian war, they may have had “some idea”.
Why did it become an issue?
Just one week after the anniversary of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin-backed media reported that Serbia was allegedly selling weapons to the Ukrainian army.
The Mash (mash.ru) Russian portal recently posted a brief report without specifying its source, and the attached video featured unverified documents, claiming that Krušik, a Serbian defense industry company, had sold 3,500 artillery shells to the Ukrainian defense ministry.
Although the authenticity of the published documents could not be verified, no one from either the Russian or Serbian side disputed their authenticity. If we follow the events step by step, it becomes clear that a Canadian, Slovak, American, and Turkish company participated in this complicated arms delivery case.
Only Krušik protested, claiming that the “foamy story” in the media was incomplete and based on irrelevant information, which was extremely maliciously tried to…
Only Krušik protested, stating that the media's “inflated story” is incomplete and based on unrelated information, which maliciously attempts to place the Serbian company in a negative context.
Krušik adds that there are contradictions in the published documents, including the alleged order of weapon sales and the names used. Regarding the latter, they note that the presented papers feature two names, M-21 GRAD and GRAD-200, with the latter being the label they use for the missiles they produce, but as they are not weapons experts, they will not go into that.
“Since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, we have not entered into any contract for a missile or mine where the end-user has become a party to the conflict,” said the company in southern Serbia, which nonetheless did not claim that the documents were false.
– said the company in southern Serbia, which nonetheless did not claim that the documents were false.
According to the export permit, the end-user in question is not Ukraine, nor does a Ukrainian company appear in it, but rather Turkish Arca, which then passed on the rockets without involving Ukrainian companies.
Meanwhile, the BBC has determined that the workers seen in the video wear work clothes with the logo of Turkish company “S Sistem Logistics Services Co,” which has several warehouses in Turkey, including at the Istanbul airport, but according to its website, it has no location in Bratislava, so Mash's claim that the footage was shot in Bratislava can be questionable, but if we let our imagination go, we would not necessarily rule it out.

However, if we take a closer look at the Turkish shipping document, the recipient listed is Slovak MSM Novaky, whose role is not overly clear, as the Ukrainian Defense Ministry names itself as the end-user in the document it issued, along with exporter Arca and supplier American company Global Ordnance Trading, owned by Marc Morales, whose “thoughts, prayers, and ammunition” are with Ukraine, specifically with General Valery Zaluzhny.
If we try to close the loop, we find that an American company bought Serbian weapons for the Ukrainians with some intermediate stops, which would not be unique since the Americans also bought Serbian weapons for the Iraqi army during the Iraq War.
What is Mash?
According to the BBC, Mash, the Russian news portal that exposed the arms shipment, is operated by News Media, the majority owner of which is Kremlin-affiliated Aram Gabrelyanov.

Mash is one of the Russian portals that glorify the Ukrainian invasion in the Russian media and on social media, such as Twitter.
In recent years, Gabrelyanov has been involved in managing various media channels whose work has been financed by the Russian state budget.
Last November (2022), together with two other journalists, they received a 450,000 euro grant from Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch new media projects in the separatist regions of Ukraine, namely the Donetsk and Luhansk “states”, which have since reportedly joined Russia.

English
MADE BY PUTIN: Serbian far right for the Serbian and Russian “national cause”

It would be hard to miss the fact that far right and neo-Nazi groups in Serbia are stirring up trouble against Kosovo and Ukraine, even though the Belgrade prosecutor's office has rejected the complaints made by a Belgrade lawyer and three Serbian civil organizations against those who sympathize with the Wagner Group. BALK reported last year that leaders of Serbian far right groups “monitored” the Ukrainian referendum staged by the Russians, who dreamt of marching into Kosovo this year on Russian tanks. Blic, a Belgrade-based newspaper, recently published a long article, citing diplomatic and security sources, about Russia's support of far right and neo-Nazi groups in Serbia. Blic's language is quite strong, but it is not far from the truth, and the following information is unlikely to surprise regular readers of BALK.
Few in number but dangerous
According to Blic news portal, far right and neo-Nazi organizations are using the French-German proposal for resolving the Kosovo situation to incite disturbances in Belgrade and in the areas bordering Kosovo. The document compiled by international mediators is referred to as just another “non-paper” rather than a real proposal and is believed to only serve the purpose of stirring up emotions and providing space for the excesses of the Serbian far right and for the growth of nationalism in Kosovo on both sides.
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According to the Blic news portal, extreme right and neo-Nazi organizations are trying to cause chaos and unrest in Belgrade and along the border of Kosovo. The centrist portal refers to the latter as the “administrative line” using a phrase from the Serbian “mandarin language.”
According to Blic, a few hundred people gathered near the Serbian parliament and surrounding streets following events in the parliament building.
The group consisted of familiar faces and Russian-friendly activists, led by Damjan Knežević, head of the People's Patrol, Srđan Nogo, former parliamentarian from the Dveri party, and Nemanja Šarović, president of the Love, Faith, Hope movement.
A Blic reports that these extreme groups may seem small in number, but they are well organized and can provoke violent incidents.
All of them have occupations that provide a modest livelihood in their place of residence, so it is well founded to believe that they receive money and resources from Moscow to continue their activities.
Violent Action in Belgrade and on the Kosovo Border
Russian-backed extremist groups have organized pro-Russian marches and gatherings that sometimes turn violent, when they serve Moscow's interests.
The most recent “violence-marred demonstration” was in Belgrade in 2020, allegedly organized by the Russian leadership.
The Covid-19 measures were cited as the cause of the demonstration, but according to Blic, it quickly became apparent that the demonstration had a political and ideological charge.
The demonstration resulted in the occupation of the Serbian parliament, 43 police officers and 17 protesters were seriously injured. Five police vehicles were set on fire, three police horses were injured during the riots, and over 70 shields and other equipment became unusable.
The Belgrade newspaper and news portal reminded that a month ago, there was a violent demonstration on the “Kosovo and Metohia” administrative line (not border!), the crowd started to brawl with the police, and minor scuffles broke out.
Violent actions are also possible
After the 2020 parliamentary invasion, the police named Damjan Knežević as the organizer, and he was arrested.
At the demonstration held on the Kosovo border a month ago, Knežević also appeared, who was previously the deputy chairman of “Zavetnici” (Keepers of the Oath), this time wearing a hat decorated with the brand of the notorious Wagner Group mercenaries.
During his visit to Russia last year, Knežević used the opportunity to turn his hosts against Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

WAGNER: Damnjan Knežević with the Wagner “logo”(Screenshot)
The Blic states that Moscow has been supporting several organizations and individuals operating in Serbia for years, but of course, all of them deny having direct connections with the Kremlin, especially when it comes to the fact that Vladimir Putin's regime finances them.
These extreme groups call themselves patriots who care about both Russia and Serbia, while spreading nationalist propaganda and sending messages inciting war with Kosovo on Telegram profiles under the guise of fraternal relationships.
They also provide advice on how Serbs should behave with regards to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, but of course, they don't put it that way.
Who is inciting from Russia?
Among those inciting from Russia, some of them have frequently stayed in Serbia, these people have become especially active since Russia attacked Ukraine.
The Kremlin's “political satellites” now maintain daily contact with far right and neo-Nazi organizations in Serbia, according to the Blic.
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Damjan Knežević has been an active “politician” in Serbia since 2014 and has been leading the People's Patrol since 2020. They started by harassing migrants dressed in black and later adopted anti-vaccine behavior.
Damjan Knezevic has connections with the Andrej Lisov, leader of the “Eagles” (Orlovi) Russian-Serbian cultural center, also known as the “Evil Eagles”, who recently moved into the Wagner Group headquarters in St. Petersburg.
Knezevic was one of the first visitors to the newly opened military training center of the semi-military or military mercenary group.
Serbia has been negatively portrayed in the foreign media recently, as symbols of the “Wagner” group have appeared on the facades and walls of Belgrade.
It is a common belief in Serbia that these graffiti/murals were brought over by the People's Patrol, especially after one appeared with the name of a far right organization. This, however, has gone unnoticed by the Serbian prosecutors.
Russian Imperial Movement and Srbska akcija
In addition to the People's Patrol, the “Srbska akcija” (Serb Action) also has connections with the Russian Imperial Movement, which has been declared a terrorist group by the United States and EU.

Two Serbian far right leaders, who oversaw the quasi-referendum on the “Russian regions” (Source: Twitter, Miša Vacić )
According to Western opinion, the Russian intelligence finds extremists for its own purposes almost anywhere in Europe through intermediation of the movement advocating czarist ideals.
In Serbia, it is believed that Srđan Nogo, a former representative of Dveri, works with this group. He is the organizer of several Serbian & Belgrade rallies.
The Blic did not mention Miša Vacic of the Serbian Right (Српска десница) and Ivan Ivanovic of the “Ours” (Наши) Conservative Movement, who were supervisors of the Russian referendum in the four Ukrainian districts and roamed around Volgograd, apparently not at their own expense.
Vacic was seen in a photo taken there with a Serbian “three-fingered” salute, and Ivanovic tweeted a picture with the caption “next year (in Kosovo) Prizren with Russian brothers.” Vacic has since decorated his Twitter profile with a “wall mural” of the Wagner Group, reading “Wagner Group – Russian Warriors…”
In a Thursday post, a Serbian far right “enthusiast” wrote that there is only one solution to the Kosovo situation, which is the annexation of Kosovo.
Questions
The West, or the EU supervised by the United States, Quinta or whoever has put Serbia in front of a choice.
The Western intermediaries, who are allegedly proliferating almost to the point of division, have also outlined what the consequences of rejecting the Western plan might be, but there is almost no mention of what happens if Serbia were to accept the proposal in question.
How does the Serbian far right react to this? Will the far right forces, directed by the far right in Serbia, take to the streets, as they have already been reveling in Belgrade & Serbia for minor things, such as the recent Pride?
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And it is also a question of what Russia does to “reinforce” these forces, or what the Night Wolves, a Putin-friendly motorcycle gang, do in Serbia.
As a question, it may also be worth asking whether it was a sane idea for the West to poison the Balkan situation and open up another front in Europe right now, especially when it was quite obvious that Russia wanted to do just that.
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