Children at Krusevac sports camp “play” in the presence of a “Z” man

The ‘sports’ children’s camp in Krushevc leads to the Russian embassy, the Serbian-Russian center in Nis, the Kremlin and the Russian security service, the RSE analysis shows.

Children at Krusevac sports camp “play” in the presence of a “Z” man.

School-age children, tents set up, prominent Russian and Serbian flags, representatives of the controversial center that conducts first aid training, are some of the details of the children’s camp held in southern Serbia organized by several associations of Serbian veterans. of war and Russian officials, conveys Free Europe (RFE).

Following the trail of the children’s camp held in Krushevc in mid-May, the RSE revealed connection the Russian embassy, the Serbo-Russian Humanitarian Center and officials from the Kremlin and the Russian security service.

This is not the first time that children’s camps are organized in Serbia, in coordination with Russia, and some of them, about which the public learned, were previously banned, such as the camp in Zlatibor 2018.

For this camp in Krusevac, which was not promoted by the media, the local city park in this city in central Serbia, as the organizers said, became the “headquarters and Polish hospital of the liberators in the Second World War”.

According to descriptions received by the RSE, school-age children from Krusevci and nearby Alexandrovac were tasked with “assisting the Yugoslav partisan detachment and Red Army (Russian) soldiers in completing tactical tasks and providing medical assistance to wounded. “.

The flags of Serbia and Russia were displayed during the event, as well as the Serbo-Russian Humanitarian Center, which Western countries insist on closing in Serbia, saying it was an attempt to establish a Russian military base.

The Serbian-Russian humanitarian center was opened in 2012 near the airport in the largest city in southern Serbia, in order to help Russian staff, as it was said at the time, with their colleagues from Serbia in case of natural disasters and other emergencies. .

For years, the Center has pursued accusations from several Western countries, most notably the United States, that it is an attempt to establish a Russian military base due to official Moscow’s request to grant diplomatic status to Russian staff employed in Center.

In early May, some representatives of the government and the opposition demanded the closure of the Serbo-Russian humanitarian center, also on charges that it was not a humanitarian center, but an attempt to establish a Russian military base in Serbia.

Përfaqësuesit e Qendrës, siç shihet edhe në foto, kanë mbajtur trajnime për fëmijët e ndihmës së parë.

The center did not respond to a RSE question about their role in the incident.

The photos show that a man was present at the event, wearing a T-shirt with the symbol Z, which means support for the occupation of Ukraine. The RSE was unable to independently confirm whether it was a participant in the event or a guest.

The photos were initially shared on a network of pro-Russian channels on the social network Telegram.

The description of the event states that these are military-patriotic games.

The original photos, as revealed by RFE, were published on May 14 on the Facebook page of the Association of War Veterans “Brotherhood of the Battle of Krushevc”, which is the main organizer of the event. It is a lesser known association, which has just over 100 followers on its Facebook page.

The Association of War Veterans “Brotherhood of the Battle of Krushevc”, which organized the event for children, has no website.

On the Facebook page, they state that their main goal is “to represent and protect the rights and interests of Serbian citizens – veterans and invalids of patriotic wars.”

Among other things, they are suspected of advocating “the return to the Serbian holy land of Kosovo and Metohija” as well as “the development of young people’s patriotic feelings towards history, customs, religion and culture”.

On their Facebook page there are no details on how the work of the association was financed.

Organizers said in a post on their Facebook account that the event was helped by the Serbo-Russian Humanitarian Center, the Russian Embassy in Belgrade, the local government of Krusevac and another organization – the All-Serbian Association of Veterans “Fighting Brotherhood”.

This organization of veterans is also not among the most represented in public and about 300 people follow them on Facebook.

The All-Serbian Association of Veterans “Fighting Brotherhood” on its official website in the section “About us” states only that it is an alliance of veterans and patriotic organizations and that the association is a member of the international organization of veterans “Fighting Brotherhood”, based in Moscow.

On the main page is a photo showing the coats of arms of the Russian police and Serbian gendarmerie with visible flags of Serbia and Russia.

The site does not provide information on how the work of the association is financed.

The Russian Embassy in Belgrade did not answer the question whether they helped financially with this event.

The Krusevac city administration in a written response to the RSE request stated that the city assisted the demonstration by giving the public space free use.

Krushevc Fighting Brotherhood: The children just played

Dragan Jakovljevic, president of the Association of War Veterans “Brotherhood of Battle Krushevc”, in a telephone connection, in an interview with RSE, he stated that “it is not about military-patriotic games”, as stated in the Telegram network.

“It’s really stupid,” he said. I have been a Gendarmerie officer and I know what that means and what our laws are. “These are sports games for children in which only children participated to play”, said Jakovljević.

He declined to comment in a telephone conversation nor answer questions previously emailed about the association’s stance leading to the Russian occupation of Ukraine, as well as the fact that photos published by the Event show a person with the prominent letter Mr.

The “Brotherhood of the Battle of Krusevac” was established, according to the data available on the website of the official business register in Serbia, in February 2021.

For further details about the event, Jakovljevic referred to RSE another organization that organized the children’s camp – the All-Serbian Association of Veterans “Brotherhood of Battle”.

The head of the organization, Slavoljub Ljubisavljevic, also denied in a written response to the RSE that these were “military-patriotic games”.

He said the event was held on the occasion of Victory Day over Fascism “in accordance with the goals and tasks of the organization” which refer to “promoting the achievements of Serbia’s liberation wars”.

According to Ljubisavljevic, the funds were provided by the association by participating in a public competition by the Serbian Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, to promote “the achievements of Serbia’s liberation wars”.

“The main goal of the project is for children aged 7 to 15 to learn something about the importance and role of the Serbian people and its allies in the liberation of these areas in World War II, through play, entertainment and sports and recreational activities.” , said Ljubisavljeviiq.

Until the text was published, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs did not respond to RSE questions about the event and funding from the Serbian budget.

Asked how the participants were selected, which children and schools would participate, Slavoljub Ljubisavljevic said the participants were “war veterans with their descendants and their friends and supporters of the association”.

Ljubisavljevic says that the letter “Z” on the shirt of one of the participants or guests was not noticed in the association.

“The mentioned symbol was not an official symbol of the event nor of our association, so until the state of Serbia prohibits it with a relevant legal act, we have no official position on it, but it is up to each of our members to decide as an act personal “, said Lubisavleviq.

As for his stance on the Russian occupation of Ukraine, Lubisavljevic says members of the association oppose all wars, even though a letter of support for Russian soldiers and veterans in the fight against “fascist villains”, as Russian authorities call Ukrainian forces, had been published. on the association’s Facebook account.

RSE, analyzing photos from the website of the All-Serbian Alliance of War Veterans “Fighting Brotherhood”, also determined the connections of the president of that association Slavoljub Ljubisavljevic with Georgi Kleban, a member of the Russian Military Intelligence Service (GRU) who was involved in an affair espionage in Serbia in 2019.

Lubisavljevic posted the same photo with Kleban on his Facebook account on November 28, 2016, with the caption: “A pleasant day spent hanging out with our brothers, members of the Russian army.” Kleban held the position of Assistant Defense Envoy at the Russian Embassy in Belgrade from 2016 to 2019.

The Children’s Games in Krusevac are not the first event organized by associations of Serbian veterans in Serbia with Russian support.

The youth-patriotic camp in Zlatibor, which was organized in August 2018 by the Association of Participants in the Armed Conflict in the former Yugoslavia from Serbia with the support of the Russian right-wing organization E.N.O.T. The corps was closed by order of the then Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Nebojsa Stefanovic.

The camp closed a few days after it opened due to what was warned of “possible child abuse and public harassment”, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the camp “paramilitary”.

He is the main actor in the affair from November 2019, when a video appeared on the Internet showing that he was giving money to a retired member of the Serbian Army in a cafe in Zemun.

The authenticity of the registration has been confirmed by the Information Security Agency (BIA), while the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuiqi., Has confirmed to the media that it is about Kleban.

Vucic later announced an investigation and stated that Serbian services had found that Kleban had contacts with members of the Serbian army.
The public in Serbia was never informed of the results of that investigation.

RSE revealed links between the All-Serbian Union of Veterans “Fighting Brotherhood” and the organization of the same name in the Moscow region of Russia.

As confirmed in a statement to RSE by the president of the All-Serbian Association of Veterans “Brotherhood of Battle”, Slavolub Lubisavljevic, the two organizations signed an agreement in April 2017.

The agreement submitted to the RSE, among other things, includes “work for the implementation of joint activities for the patriotic education of young people.”

Military-patriotic education of young people is one of the activities of the Russian “Brotherhood of Battle” as seen on the official website.

Military-patriotic education of young people in Russia has been under the care of the government since 2006, so the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva reacted in 2014.

The committee condemned this type of education and called on Russian authorities to ban military training for children under the age of eight.

According to the official website, the president of the Russian association “Brotherhood of Battle”, Boris Gromov, was the governor of the Moscow region for several terms. He was nominated for the post by United Russia, a party led by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Among the vice-presidents is Rashid Nastuev, a member of the Russian intelligence service (Federal Security Service – FSB), whose biography states that he was awarded the “For the Return of Crimea” medal.

The children’s games in Krushevc are not the first event organized by associations of Serbian veterans in Russia with Russian support.

In 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, therefore it is under sanctions by the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA). These sanctions were further intensified after Russia, eight years later, by decision of President Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Russian right-wing organization E.N.O.T. Korp in previous years, hosted children from Serbia who underwent military training in Russia, using replicas of automatic weapons and real cold steel, as reported by RFE / RL.

They stopped working on January 9, 2019 and according to Russian media, several members of this organization were investigated in November 2019 for participating in criminal activities.

The executive director of the non-governmental Strategic Policy Council and former diplomat Nikola Lunic told RSE that Russia is exercising “soft power” in Serbia through youth camps and ensuring the survival of its influence.

“Investing in school-age minors ensures the long-term survival of influence in Serbia, based exclusively on the imaginary image of Russia with educational blindness to the objectivity of international relations and the interests of its own country,” Lunic said.

That, he says, does not cost much.

“When imperial power invests in the realization of its declared interests, then the cheapest projection is illusions and emotions, and the most expensive is the use of military force,” Lunic explains.

According to Lunic, events such as the camp in Zlatibor took place “under the radar” of the Serbian security services, which he considers an omission:

“The organization of such camps and the abuse of children by foreign intelligence services is a failure of the Security Intelligence Agency and must be prevented forever, regardless of the country involved.”

When it comes to co-operation between Serbian and Russian veterans’ organizations, Lunic says it is “a common form of improving international co-operation, spreading trust and projecting influence or ‘soft power’ in peacetime”.

However, he stressed that such cooperation should now be seen in the light of the current war in Ukraine.

“In time of war, such work is malignant war propaganda aimed at achieving the declared military goals by diversifying the conflicts and destabilizing the region in the Balkans with a long-frozen conflict that the Kremlin is trying to maintain by feeding all nationalisms with hope. “for a historic rematch with the neighbors”, concluded Lunic.

Belgrade and Moscow continue to maintain good relations.

Serbia is the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, although it aspires to EU membership.
Official Belgrade joined the condemnation of the occupation, but refused to impose sanctions on Russia because of, as Serbian officials have repeatedly emphasized, “the protection of the country’s vital interests”.

Representatives of Western countries have repeatedly urged Serbia to harmonize its foreign policy with that of the Union and to impose sanctions on Moscow.