Momcilo Gajic, the leader of the Serbian group that caused unrest in Europe on the orders of Russian intelligence, takes refuge in Moscow

The leader of a group from Serbia, which caused unrest in France and Germany on the orders of Russian intelligence, is hiding in Russia.

After months of searching, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty found Momčilo Gajić in Moscow, where he was at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in January 2026.

This church is the representative office of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Russia, and Gajic occupies a central place in the church ceremony in the photograph.

Momcilo Gajic, in an investigation by the Serbian judiciary, is suspected of being one of the organizers of a series of racist actions directed against Jewish and Muslim communities in Paris and Berlin in the spring and summer of 2025.

He managed to escape French and Serbian police and was not among the 11 members of the group who were arrested in Serbia in late September of the same year.

According to the decision of the Supreme Court in Smederevo, to which REL has had access, Gajic led a group from Serbia that caused the riots on the orders of the Russian intelligence service.

Three members of the group pleaded guilty and in December 2025 were convicted in a court in Smederevo of espionage and inciting racial discrimination.

One of the convicts described Gajic as the organizer of the riots "closely connected to the Russian service," according to court documents.

Police did not respond to a question about whether an arrest warrant had been issued for him.

Momčilo Gajić (30) has no previous convictions, has a registered address in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, and is also known by the nickname "Kaluđer", according to an investigation by Radio Free Europe.

What is known about the leader of the group from Serbia?

The first information about Gajić's role in the Paris and Berlin incidents emerged in late September 2025, when the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) announced that 11 people had been arrested in a major operation by the police and the Security Information Agency on suspicion of committing crimes of espionage and racial and other discrimination.

“There are grounds for suspicion that MG, who is on the run, acting on the instructions of a foreign intelligence service, organized and trained a group of 14 Serbian citizens on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, whose aim was to violate fundamental human rights on the territory of France and Germany based on differences in race, skin color, religious affiliation, nationality and ethnic origin,” the Interior Ministry announced on September 29.

The group has committed several acts of vandalism, including pouring green paint on the Holocaust Museum and three synagogues in Paris, as well as leaving pigs' heads in front of nine mosques in the city.

In the center of Berlin, near the memorial complex dedicated to murdered Jews, plastic skeletons were being placed.

It is not known whether Gajic is wanted. The French prosecutor's office and the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to RFE/RL's inquiry regarding the arrest warrant issued.

The High Prosecutor's Office in Smederevo briefly stated that it was still handling the case.

"The case is still in the investigation phase, in which various procedural actions are being taken, which include, among other things, measures to ensure the presence of the defendants, as well as evidentiary actions aimed at establishing all relevant facts," the Smederevo Prosecutor's Office told Radio Free Europe.

She added that "in the interest of the smooth development of the proceedings" she was unable to provide additional information.

What is Gajic doing in Moscow?

There is not much information about Momcilo Gajic in publicly available records.

By investigating the digital footprint, REL found his contacts based on his old LinkedIn profile.

The phone number associated with the Telegram app is also linked to a profile picture showing Gajici making a phone call.

The medium geolocated the location of the photo shoot in Moscow, where Gajic is sitting near the entrance to one of the oldest markets, "GUM", opposite Red Square.

Behind it are flower gardens that come into bloom during the flower festival in the summer months. The exact time the photo was taken cannot be determined with certainty.

Another found photo shows Momčilo Gajić at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Moscow, which is the representative office (sub-prefecture) of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in Russia.

The photos were shared on their website on January 27, 2026 by the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as Bishop Stefan (Dragan) Sarić.

A liturgy was held on the occasion of the religious holiday of Saint Sava, which is also a church feast day in Moscow.

Momcilo Gajic holds one of the central positions during the cake-breaking ceremony, which is part of the customs of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

In the accompanying text, the Moscow Secretariat of the Serbian Orthodox Church announces Gajić as the godfather of the celebration for the coming year, 2027. A godfather is a person who, according to the description on the Serbian Orthodox Church website, “takes on the honor of organizing and helping to celebrate the temple celebration.”

The text of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Russia says that Gajic is “from Moscow.”

The Serbian Orthodox Church did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about whether they had checked who would be the organizer of one of the largest celebrations in a temple in Russia and how they selected a person for this position.

What do the court records reveal?

Upon returning to Serbia, following the incidents in Paris and Berlin, 11 members of the group were arrested and remanded in custody on October 1, 2025.

Three members of the group pleaded guilty and were sentenced to six months to one and a half years of house arrest by the High Court in Smederevo in late December.

The investigation against other members of the group is still ongoing.

After several statements to the police, Aleksandar Savić, Filip Petrović and Nemanja Čevap pleaded guilty.

In late December, they were sentenced to six months to a year and a half of house arrest by the High Court in Smederevo.

They did not respond to Radio Free Europe's requests for an interview.

Who was arrested in Serbia?

In addition to the three people who pleaded guilty, proceedings are underway against eight other people who were arrested in September 2025.

Also suspected of espionage and racial discrimination are: Aleksandar Blekić, Nikola Stanojević, Nikola Zikić, Sara Paunović, Đorđe Pavlović, Nikola Delić and Aleksandar Milenković.

Most of the group members lived in Velika Plana, a town of about 15,000 inhabitants in central Serbia, about 90 kilometers from Belgrade.

REL had access to the case files, which include statements from the defendants.

The three members of the group who pleaded guilty largely denied in their statements that they were "fully aware" of the purpose of the incidents.

Aleksandar Savić stated that he knew about Momčilo Gajić because he worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Belgrade that Gajić allegedly ran at one point.

In his statement, he states that they met at the end of April 2025 when Gajic gave him money to pay the group's participants.

Aleksandar Savić testified that he paid for plane tickets, rented cars and provided money for organizing events, which Gajić paid him in advance or reimbursed him later.

As can be seen from the court decisions, the members of the group received between 500 and 1.500 euros for their “actions,” and everything happened according to the instructions of Momcilo Gajic.

"I know that Momcil's nickname is 'Kaluder' and that he is closely connected to the Russian service. I don't know if it is the intelligence service of the Russian Federation, I understand that his goal is to destabilize the political situation in Europe," Filip Petrovic, who pleaded guilty, said in his testimony.

Case files list an unidentified person nicknamed "The Hunter" as the group's second organizer.

According to court records, none of the group members saw this person.

Aleksandar Savić stated that he communicated with him only via audio link.

He also said that the connection was severed when they first heard from each other, which Hunter, according to Savić, commented with the sentence – “connections are often severed when we are on the front lines.”

"In my opinion, Hunter is on the battlefield in Ukraine. I have never seen his face. I assume that he and 'Kaluder' (Momcilo Gajic) are best friends, collaborators," Savic said in his statement, when he pleaded guilty.

He added that Hunter "certainly has connections to the Russian service" and that "nothing can be done" without him.

Who is 'The Hunter'?

"My assumption is that Hunter is the head of this service and in organizing these activities in Paris and Berlin, but I don't know for sure. In my assessment, Kaluder is lower than Hunter in that organization," Savic also stated.

The media outlet could not independently confirm whether the person nicknamed "The Hunter" is among the Serbian volunteers fighting in Ukraine on the side of Russia.

None of the suspects have given their real names, and they call him "Hunter" because, among other things, that was his username on the Zangi app.

The group used this online messaging app to communicate during the actions.

The app was developed by California-based company Secret Phone Inc. and, as the description states, is primarily used for private and secure communication and the exchange of encrypted text messages, voice and video calls. It is installed without being linked to a phone number and does not store user data.

Momcilo Gajic's user account on the app, according to the testimonies of convicted members of the group, was "Kaluder" and "Duzepe".

Who was arrested in France?

Following the incidents in Paris, French police announced in early June 2025 that they had arrested three people with Serbian citizenship in the town of Juan-les-Pins in Alpes-Maritimes, while they were trying to escape.

Reviewing the court case, REL determined that these are Bogdan Đinović, Petar Dinović and Dalibor Milenkovc, who are still in custody in France.

Questions about the status of this process were not answered by the Paris prosecutor's office at the time of publication.

Relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church

According to publicly available data, it can be seen that two years before the incidents in France and Germany, Gajic was one of the important guests of the Serbian Orthodox Church, this time in Serbia.

The celebration of the church slava, in which Gajić was the groom's companion, was held on May 22, 2023, at the Church of the Ascension in Novi Sad, and the liturgy was led by one of the most influential representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Irinej (Mirko) Bulović of Bačka.

In 2017, Momcilo Gajic spoke about himself in a YouTube show called "The Life of a Gamer," in which he introduced himself as an employee of an electronic games company.

In that show, Gajic states that in the eighth grade he met "friends from the criminal environment."

“I started doing different things, by different things I mean everything except drugs (…). I have never been convicted, I have never been caught by the police for anything I have done (…). In November (2012) on the corner of Njegoševa Street in Novi Sad, I was shot, the bullet went through my forehead and that’s when I realized that I was either going to die or I was going to live,” Gajić said at the time.

The show with Gajić was filmed in the courtyard of the Kovilj Monastery, near Novi Sad. Gajić stated at the time that he stayed at the monastery in 2012 and 2013 to “treat his gambling addiction.”

This Serbian Orthodox Church monastery houses the “Land of the Living” church community, which, according to the description on their website, deals with the treatment of addiction through prayer.

The community was founded “with the blessing” of Bishop Irinej of Bačka and experienced its greatest promotion at a time when the abbot of the monastery was the current Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije (Jovan) Pavlović, who led it until 2014.

Who visits the representative office of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Moscow?

The representative office of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Moscow is headed by Bishop Stefan (Dragan) Šarić. He is the so-called vicar bishop of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

He has the title "Bishop of Remesia", which means he does not lead a separate diocese.

Before becoming the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate in 2018, he was the head of the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade, the largest temple in Serbia.

Journalists from the investigative newsroom "Detektor" from Sarajevo found Bishop Stefan in the company of Serbian volunteers in Russia.

According to the Sarajevo portal, in April 2025, he was invited to a charity dinner at the "Subotica" restaurant in Moscow.

The dinner was organized by the Moscow-based Saint Sava Foundation of Serbia. The organization was founded by Serbian volunteers in the Russian army – Davor Savic and Branko Basara.

A previous investigation showed that Bosnian Serb Davor Savicic, who founded the mercenary battalion “Wolves” before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was also appointed a colonel in the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, better known as the GRU.

Also at the dinner was Dejan Berić, one of the most famous recruiters of Serbian mercenaries in Ukraine.

According to "Detector", two senior Russian officers also participated in this event, including Eduard Shonov, holder of two orders for bravery of the Russian army and a member of the "Time of Heroes" program, initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A month later, in May 2025, Bishop Stefan Šarić hosted the former president of the Bosniak entity of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who shared a photo from this event on the social network X.

At this reception, in addition to Bishop Stefan and Milorad Dodik, Davor Savičić was also present.

The Serbian Orthodox Church did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about contacts between Church representatives and recruiters of volunteers for the war in Ukraine.