When supporters and opponents of the government in Serbia found themselves facing each other on Sunday, November 2, in and around the tent camp, popularly known as “Caciland,” in the center of Belgrade, cameras filmed a man among the government’s supporters who sent a clear message to the opponents by making the gesture of slitting a throat with his hand.
Using open-source tools, Radio Free Europe’s (RFE/RL) Balkan Service has found that the man who threatened to slit a throat is Zlatko Novković, a US citizen of Serbian origin who also holds a Russian passport.
He himself published photographs of the passports he possesses on social networks.
Archival footage from the time of the war in Bosnia quickly circulated on social networks, where Novković appears among members of the Chetnik paramilitary formations in Trnovo and Igman, near Sarajevo.
On social media, he claims to have been in Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that was destroyed by Russian forces in the first year of the occupation, and to have visited Russian formations in Donbas and Sevastopol.
He was filmed near the building of the Assembly of Serbia, precisely on the day when Dijana Hrka, the mother of one of the victims of the accident at the railway station in Novi Sad, started a hunger strike.
Hrka, who joined the massive protests ongoing in Serbia since November 2024, and through which accountability is sought for the death of 16 people from the roof collapse, also demands the release of all those detained in the demonstrations.
She was not allowed to protest in front of the Assembly. Police and pro-government groups, who closed this part of Belgrade several months ago and set up the tent camp, prevented her.
The first day of her protest took place in an atmosphere of tension. Bottles, pieces of metal fence, and pyrotechnics flew between the two sides, while nationalist songs were heard from “Caciland.” Novković was also on that side.
The Serbian Progressive Party, the ruling party, has not commented on the actions of Zlatko Novković.
Who is Zlatko Novković?
Zlatko Novković, 62, also known by the nickname Zak Novak, was born in New Jersey, United States of America.
In 2021, he announced on social networks that he had received a Russian passport, and according to his Facebook profile, on April 23, 2015, he moved to the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
In April 2014, pro-Russian separatists, with the support of Russia, occupied government buildings in several cities in Donetsk and declared the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR).
From the photographs he publishes on social networks, which RFE/RL has geographically verified, it can be concluded that they were taken in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
On social networks, he declares that he is part of the so-called Humanitarian Battalion “Novorossiya.”
Moscow uses the term “Novorossiya” for the occupied areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Novković is often photographed with the symbols of this area and in several interviews for media promoting the Russian invasion, he said that “the Russians welcomed him with an open heart,” even though he is an American citizen.
He says he works as a journalist in Donbas, but also that he is a reservist in the Russian army.
On the Russian network VKontakte, he presents himself as a Serbian volunteer from the USA “who once fought against Albanians and Croats, and now against Ukrainians.”
RFE/RL does not have data confirming his participation in the war in Kosovo or Croatia, apart from the one in Bosnia.
At the top of his VK profile is a photo collage from the fighting in Bosnia, as well as a photograph with Alexei Milchakov, the leader of the Russian paramilitary unit Rusich, linked to the mercenary group Wagner.
Milchakov is suspected of war crimes and since 2022 has been under sanctions by the EU, USA, Britain, Canada, and other countries.
Milchakov promotes extremist nationalist ideology, and his unit is known for documenting the torture and killing of prisoners.
It is unknown what Novković’s concrete ties are with this unit and whether he himself participated directly in the fighting in Ukraine.
The photographs show visits to war zones, but there is no evidence that he actively participated in battle.
He also has photographs with Dejan Berić, whom RFE/RL previously reported as fighting for pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and who is considered one of the main recruiters of fighters from the Balkans.
According to his publications, Novković taught English at the Luchisty camp in Crimea, Ukraine.
According to the report by Almende, a Ukrainian human rights organization, this camp is described as a place where “military-patriotic” and “re-education” activities are held, oriented towards changing the national identity of children and integrating them into the Russian value system.
The photos of this camp published by him date from 2018 and 2019.
Participation in the War in Bosnia
During the 90s, he was a volunteer in the paramilitary formations operating in Sarajevo.
On his Instagram profile, there is a photograph of a commendation from the so-called New Sarajevo Chetnik Brigade from 1993, which states that he participated in the fighting near Sarajevo for several months, which at that time was under siege by Serbian forces, and that for this reason, he was given the rank of Chetnik Captain.
The document was signed by Slavko Aleksić, a paramilitary commander and a well-known figure of Serbian radicals during that period.
According to his publications, Novković claims to have been Aleksić’s bodyguard.
The analysis of his profiles shows that since 2023 he has been in Belgrade.
In recent months, he has been active at the rallies of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the party of President Aleksandar Vučić.
Even during his stay in Russia, he shared videos of SNS meetings before the 2022 elections and has participated several times in Vladimir Putin’s election campaigns.
Support for Vučić and Role in “Caciland”
“We love and support you, President Vučić! Death to traitors, Nazi scum of the opposition!” he wrote on Instagram in August of this year, attaching a photograph from the camp in Pioneer Park.
The improvised tent camp, popularly called “Caciland,” is located in Pioneer Park in the center of Belgrade, between the headquarters of state institutions, and was erected in early March 2025.
The informal group called Students 2.0 set up the camp with the request to end the student blockade of faculties and normalize teaching. Although the blockade ended, the camp remained and expanded around the Assembly as well.
According to RFE/RL’s reports, the camp has been supported over the last eight months by former members of special units involved in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, leaders of pro-Russian and extremist organizations, as well as persons convicted of serious crimes.
In one of his recent statements, President Vučić called “Caciland” a “symbol of the existence of Serbia, a symbol of freedom and resistance.”
Citizens have been prevented from passing through that area for months, and media reports show that people in the camp have often hindered and attacked journalist teams in the performance of their work.
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