EU Criticizes Claims of Intelligence Cooperation Between Belgrade and Moscow

The European Union has told Serbia that maintaining ties with Russia during its war of aggression against Ukraine is not compatible with EU values and the accession process.

"The European Union has been crystal clear with our partners: Relations with Russia cannot be business as usual after Russia's unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine," an EU statement said on August 15 in response to an RFE/RL inquiry.

Brussels also said that the EU "wants to count on all candidate countries as reliable European partners for common principles, values, security, and prosperity."

The reaction followed meetings between Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Kremlin officials in Moscow this week along with claims of intelligence cooperation with Russia.

Vulin has met several government officials during a four-day visit to Moscow, including First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on August 15.

"Relations between the two countries, despite numerous challenges, are at a high level," according to a statement from the Serbian government after the meeting.

Vulin and Manturov “reviewed the outcomes of the discussions between the Serbian Vice Prime Minister and Russian ministers…and agreed that, despite the good cooperation, there is room for further improvement," the statement said.

Vulin also met on August 15 with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilyov and expressed gratitude for natural gas deliveries that he said ensure Serbia's energy security.

Serbia is entirely dependent on Russian gas but has taken the first steps toward energy diversification.

Vulin met on August 14 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow to discuss "further improving the Serbian-Russian strategic partnership," the Serbian government said in a statement.

He repeated that he is proud that Serbia is "not part of the anti-Russian hysteria" and has not joined the Western sanctions on Moscow imposed in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

At the start of his visit Vulin thanked Russian security structures "for the warning about preparations for mass unrest and attempts at a coup" in Serbia.

The government has described recent mass protests against lithium mining as a "coup attempt," and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused unnamed Western countries of being behind the protests.

Vucic said warnings from Russian services had arrived in Serbia before a mass protest on August 11 advising that the ultimate goal of the demonstration was the overthrow of the country's leadership.

The Serbian government and the Security Information Agency (BIA) have not responded to RFE/RL's request for information that was provided to Belgrade by Russian services.

There has also been no answer to the question of what evidence supports the claim that the lithium protests are an attempt to overthrow the government and that they are supported by Western countries.

Organizers have repeatedly denied that the protest aimed to overthrow the government.

"Government changes through elections; if anyone expected to come to power on our backs, they were mistaken. The aim of the protest is to gather people and show the world how many are against the lithium mining project," Nebojsa Petkovic of the organization We Will Not Give Up Jadar, told RFE/RL.

The organization was formed in the village of Gornje Nedeljice in western Serbia, where multinational giant Rio Tinto plans begin mining for lithium.

Opposition to the project has come from citizens who believe it could have negative environmental impacts.

Petkovic said We Will Not Give Up Jadar "is not funded by foreigners but by the people of Serbia who donate."