Paramilitary Bratislav Živković – participant in setting up barricades in the north of Kosovo and organizer of sending Serbian mercenaries to the war front in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual State of the Nation address on Monday. In addition to Russian representatives, many guests attended his address, and among them one man in a military uniform with numerous decorations and Chetnik symbols stood out.

He is Bratislav Živković, a 42-year-old commander of the Chetniks, the Serbian paramilitary force that fought alongside pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in 2014 and 2015 as part of the far-right organization “Unité Continentale”, writes The Geopost.

Two French citizens – Viktor Lenta and Nikola Perović – are mentioned as the founders of the “Unité Continentale,” both of whom were French military veterans.

Živković claims he was invited to Putin’s conference as a participant in a “special military operation in Ukraine.”

He stresses that he is “the only Serb commander who organized the Chetnik detachment and brought it to Crimea in 2014,” adding that he participated “in the defense of the city of Luhansk in the same year and in the defense of Donetsk in 2018.”

In parts of eastern Ukraine, Moscow encouraged a separatist insurgency in 2014, and fighting between local forces and pro-Russian separatists has continued in those provinces ever since.

In 2018, Živković was arrested in Serbia on suspicion of organizing the participation of Serbs in armed conflict in Ukraine and offering them 200 euros a month in return.

The extremist is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine for his role in the attacks on Ukrainian forces in the above-mentioned provinces.

The last information about Živković appeared in the media last year, when it was reported that he was seriously injured and treated in Moscow and that he came to Putin’s speech on crutches.

In 2017, Romania expelled Živkovic and banned him from entering the country for 15 years after he allegedly showed interest in secret information about military facilities and equipment.

He was caught spying on and photographing military radars on the Black Sea coast while trying to transmit his GPS coordinates.

“The Court of Appeal in Bucharest declares Bratislav Živković undesirable in Romania for the next 15 years on the grounds of endangering national security,” reads the justification for his deportation.

Participant in setting up barricades in the north of Kosovo

For security expert Agim Musliu, this Chetnik is a puppet of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

Musliu stresses that Živković  began his pro-russian career in 2012, when he participated in setting up of barricades in northern Kosovo.

“Serb Chetnik Bratislav Živković, one of the puppets of Aleksandar Vučić, who was present at the speech of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Moscow 2-3 days ago, started his pro-russian career in Kosovo, namely in the Serb barricades of 2012, in the north of Kosovo”, asserts Musliu.

Živkovic involved in the Kumanovo conflict 

The leader of the Serbian Chetniks had spent three days in northern Macedonia, during which time he also visited the Kumanovo district, where the fighting took place in May 2015.

During his stay there, Živković met with the representatives of the Serbian associations and appointed the Chetnik commander for the Kumanovo region.

After the Kumanovo conflict, Živkovic had stated that he would organize volunteers from Serbia to fight “Albanian terrorists.”

He also tried to cross the border at the Preševo-Kumanovo border point, but was not allowed to do so by the Serbian police.

He was banned from entering 15 NATO member states. /The Geopost/