BELGRADE A tall man has cut his hair short, a couple of millimeters long. He stays after the interview to show videos from his cell phone.
In one video, an enormously long sheet flies through the streets of the city. The sheet is half in the colors of the Serbian flag and half in the colors of the Russian flag. The tickets have the same colors, i.e. red, blue and white, but the stripes are in a different order.
– We made a 600 meter long flag and took it to the street. The Russians thanked us and asked us to bring the flag to St. Petersburg, Damnjan Kneževićstubble-haired, says to .
Knežević, 35, heads the far-right Narodna patrola organization. The name is loosely translated into Finnish, Kansan partiot.
In the video above, you can see Knežević in an interview with .
Narodna patrola organized a flag protest last summer in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
The organization wanted to use a giant flag to express its support for Russia and oppose the sanctions that the EU imposed on Russia after it attacked Ukraine.
Of course, the abduction did not go unnoticed in Russia. The country’s propaganda media took full advantage of the small central European country’s expression of support for the extreme right. The phones started ringing, and Knežević received an invitation to the country he deeply loved.
And Knežević’s trip to Russia did not go unnoticed in Serbia either. There was a stir because Knežević visited the mercenary Wagner’s headquarters in St. Petersburg.
The public has long had doubts that Yevgeny Prigozhin led by the notorious mercenary Wagner would have aspirations in Serbia.
The question arose, what is the connection between Wagner and Narodna patrola. According to the director of the organization, it is very loose.
– We have no cooperation with Wagner. I have many friends in Russia. Lots of brothers. Some are at the front, some in politics. Some work as journalists, Knežević tells .
The far-right painted a mural in Belgrade idealizing the Russian Wagner mercenary army.
Left-wing activists soon defaced the painting.
Wagner’s announcements are worrying
Wagner has been in the public eye in Serbia primarily because of his recruitment announcements. Wagner has published recruitment notices aimed at Serbians on his own channels, and the Russian propaganda channel RT has also published them on its Serbian-language website.
There were also rumors that the mercenary army would open an office in Serbia, but the claim turned out to be untrue.
The information operation was so brazen that the president of Serbia was enraged.
– Why are you trying to recruit, even though you know it is against Serbian law, President Aleksandar Vučić said in January.
Serbian law prohibits participation in fighting abroad.
The United States also expressed concern that Wagner is trying to recruit soldiers in Serbia.
The Serbian leadership was also outraged by the video published by the Russian media, which showed mercenaries in Ukraine who claimed to be Serbs.
The researcher does not believe in Wagner’s infiltration
A Serbian researcher evaluates Yelle Wagner’s possible activities in Serbia. Director of Research at the Center for International Affairs and Security Issues (ISAC) in Belgrade Igor Novakovic does not believe that a Russian private army has infiltrated Serbia.
– I don’t think that Wagner has recruiting centers or other official activities in Serbia, although it would probably like to operate here, Novaković says.
Regarding Narodna patrola’s flirtation with Wagner, Novaković states that it causes concern in Serbia, and for good reason. The recent history of the country is warlike.
– The Serbian government knows how dangerous it is [Wagnerin läsnäolo] would be It is important for the government to prevent Wagner from materializing in Serbia.
Western countries have warned that the pro-Russian extreme right can threaten Serbia’s security. And the problem in Serbia is not only street organizations, but also parties. There are far-right parties in the parliament that cooperate closely with Russia.
The extreme right has close connections to Russia
Research director Novaković says that the connections between the Serbian extreme right and Russia have become closer in the last 10–15 years.
– There are official and unofficial groups and movements that maintain relations with Russia. These connections may be dangerous in the future.
Novaković takes, for example, the protests that the extreme right organized against sanctions against Russia during the parliamentary elections last year. Serbia is the only country in Europe that is not part of the sanctions.
– Some far-right parties managed to get into parliament thanks to the protests. However, informal groups are a much greater threat because they are unpredictable.
There is no exact information on how much Russia finances the Serbian extreme right.
– President Vučić has said that he knows that cash has been moving. Funding can come through Russian companies or agents operating here.
Novaković considers the Narodna patrol led by Damnjan Knežević to be an example of a dangerous organization. A weapon has been confiscated from at least one representative of the organization in connection with the protest.
– I believe that Narodna patrola can be a dangerous movement for society. The police and probably the security service are after them.
Why does the Kremlin finance and support the extreme right in Serbia?
– It gives Russia influence. Russia can take advantage of far-right groups when the right moment comes. If, for example, unrest broke out in the country.
Anti-NATO and anti-EU can be seen in Belgrade’s street scene.
The far-right leader was in prison during the winter
Serbia’s relations with Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008, are tense, and Russia and Wagner may at worst be further weakening that relationship.
President of Kosovo Vjosa Osman claimed in February that Wagner, along with Serbian paramilitary groups, was smuggling weapons into Kosovo. No evidence of such has been presented and Serbia has denied the allegations.
In any case, Knežević’s far-right organization dreams of Greater Serbia and opposes the normalization of relations.
Knežević was arrested by the police in the winter during a demonstration against the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Knežević was charged with unconstitutional activity and spent two months in prison.
President Vučić said that the organizers of the demonstration received money from abroad.
– The police beat me for approximately six hours. They mostly only asked me about my visit to Wagner’s headquarters and the funding of our organization. We don’t get funding from anywhere, even if nobody believes it. Not even the Russians, Knežević claims.
According to him, the discussions with Wagner during the visit to St. Petersburg were mostly mutual praise.
– I thanked them for promising to help us if problems arise in Kosovo.
Knežević has a strict view of the Serbian president:
– Vučić hates us because we are patriots and he is a renegade.
Knežević assures his support for Wagner. He reminds that Russia sent volunteers to fight in the 1990s in support of Serbia in the breakup wars of Yugoslavia.
– Many of the Wagnerians were in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Today they are fighting for Russia. Why can’t I support them?