Serbian local media dismissed as false and dangerous Russian intelligence claims that small independent outlets were helping the European Union prepare mass protests similar to Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan uprising.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) this week alleged that the EU and its member states were financing “subversive activities” in Serbia aimed at staging unrest on Nov. 1, the anniversary of a deadly accident in Belgrade. It named several regional news portals as playing a role in “poisoning youth” and mobilising demonstrators.
Editors of the outlets told N1 television the accusations were absurd and politically motivated, suggesting the allegations were meant to help the government discredit critical media.
“It is so untrue that it is laughable, but at the same time very dangerous,” said Milan Zirojević, editor of the Niš-based portal Južne vesti, which was mentioned in the SVR report. “This is clearly a Russian service to the regime, signed off by Aleksandar Vulin,” he added, referring to Serbia’s pro-Russian former intelligence chief.
Zirojević said EU funds represented only a marginal part of Južne vesti’s finances. “We are a local, domestic, successful product backed by an IT company. We are not dependent on foreign or domestic projects,” he said.
Also named was Slobodna reč, a portal in the southern town of Vranje. Its editor, Sanja Petrov, ridiculed the claims. “The assertion that my portal is part of a subversive network is as true as me being a Jedi. And I know I am not,” she said.
Petrov questioned how a small website with 4,000 Instagram followers could be capable of putting half a million people on the streets. “This is just another way for the regime to divert attention from real problems,” she said.
Both editors warned that branding small outlets as destabilising forces was part of a wider government strategy to erode their readership and credibility.
“This is the opening of a new front against local media, to present them as destructive and frightening,” Zirojević said. “But I am sure we will continue our work. No one can predict how the situation in Serbia will develop.”
The accusations come as student protests, triggered by a May building collapse that killed 16 people, continue to pressure President Aleksandar Vučić’s government. Students have demanded his resignation and early elections, while pledging independence from both pro-Russian and pro-EU political blocs.