Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, commenting on the hysteria regarding the connections between Wagner and Serbia, said that this is a blatant lie.
In turn, the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the company has never had any contacts with Serbia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Speaking on the evening of January 16 on the air of the Cyrillic program on the Serbian TV channel Happy, Aleksandar Vucic said that all statements about the presence of representatives of the Wagner PMC in Serbia are “a blatant lie.”
“But it is true that we have a lot of irresponsible people,” the Serbian president remarked, referring to a visit to the Wagner Center in St. Petersburg by Damnjan Knezevic, the leader of a Serbian far-right group calling itself the People’s Patrol.
After this, Knezhevich repeatedly appeared in public wearing a headdress with the emblem of the Wagner PMC.
Damnjan Knezevic is known for conflicts with pro-Western journalists and Serbian law enforcement officers, as well as for using obscene language against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (accusing him of policies that lead to the surrender of Kosovo). Recently, Knezevic and a group of his associates were banned from entering neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Aleksandar Vucic, speaking on the Cyrillic program, also said that he had already turned “to his friends from Russia” and noted that it was unfair to treat those who “suffered the most because they did not punish either Dostoevsky or Tchaikovsky.” .
“For the fact that we accepted everyone from Russia, or for the fact that we are the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions? Why are you doing this against Serbia? Why are you calling someone from Serbia to Wagner if you know that this is contrary to our rules?” the Serbian leader asked rhetorically.
He also addressed the Serbs:
“Why are you going to Ukraine, Russia, or anywhere else? Haven’t we lost enough heads in wars?”
In turn, the founder of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, answering a question from a Voice of America journalist about the company’s activity in Serbia on January 17, said:
“PMC Wagner has never been to Serbia. And she had no contacts with Serbia. There are currently no Serbian citizens in the Wagner PMC, and there haven’t been for a long time. Therefore, all the rumors that are being fueled around the interaction between the Wagner group and Serbia have no basis.”
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, “Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo” Albin Kurti previously called the Serbian protests in the north of Kosovo and Metohija “Wagner’s barricades”.