Serbian mercenary Beric fights alongside Putin’s army

Dejan Beric, a Serbian citizen from a place called Putinc , who joined the separatists of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic in early 2014, is taking part in the war in Ukraine on the side of Russian forces as a sniper.

The Serbian mercenary often appeared in the pro-Russian media and became one of the most famous foreign mercenaries. His example was used for propaganda purposes to invite people to join pro-Russian forces.

According to some sources, Russians pay him from 2,500 to 10,000 US dollars, and sometimes even more because it all depends on what “job” he manages to do.

As a mercenary, Dejan Beric was a Russian television star and the author of the book “When the Dead Speak”, which is sold in bookstores in Serbia.

He has been decorated many times with war decorations in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. He is one of the most famous Serbs, the captain and the hero there, and in his place is a small private and a big debtor.

In late February 2019, Beric appeared in the role of a journalist for the portal “Politrussia” at the press conference of the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zaharova, in Moscow.

At that time, their dialogue lasted about 7 minutes, in which he spoke about the killing of dozens of people in the Donbas, about the alleged influence of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Serbian government and asked Russia’s position on the Kosovo issue.

Russian media say Berik was given six times Novorussia’s biggest greetings for “showing courage in the fight against the Ukrainian army”, and among the medals is the Heroic Cross, which they gave him for “for use of sniper rifle and the destruction of six opposing snipers “.

Also, the Serbian media have written about him, in which he has been described as one of the most famous Serbian “fighters” on the Ukrainian front, certainly on the side of Russia. He is a “hero” in the pro-Russian media in Serbia, a “golden sniper”, a “personification of heroism and power”.

Dejan Beric, who has been fighting alongside pro-Russian forces in the Donbas since 2014, appeared on social media for the first time since the beginning of the occupation of Ukraine, where he made false claims about the Ukrainian army.

Serbian mercenaries who joined the Russian private army Wagner to take part in the fighting, convicted before Serbian courts, were given light punitive measures. According to court records collected by Radio Free Europe last November, from 2015 to 2018, 32 fighters were convicted for war abroad. Everyone admitted guilt. Thus, 28 of them passed only on parole, and four under house arrest.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Since then, there has been daily fighting between the Ukrainian and Russian armies. Every day, Russian forces shoot and destroy buildings, hospitals, maternity hospitals, kill civilians and children. The Russian occupation met with condemnation from all over the world. The US, the EU, but also almost all the countries of the Western Balkans imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow. Protests in support of Ukraine take place every day in many countries and Putin is called for a ceasefire.

Serbia is the only country in the Western Balkans that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, nor has it closed the skies to Russian aircraft. With this move, the Serbian president proved once again on whose side he is, although he “condemned Russian innocence”, he did nothing more than say a few words, remaining loyal to his “ruler”.