Activists in Serbia file lawsuit against Wagner PMC for recruiting mercenaries for Ukraine war

Reuters reported this with reference to the statement of one of the initiators of the lawsuit, Serbian lawyer Cedomir Stojkovic.

“We have reasonable suspicion that (former Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandar - ed.) Vulin ... gave orders, directives and guidelines that the activities of the Wagner Group in Serbia should not be prevented,” he said.

It is noted that a group of pro-Ukrainian activists in Serbia filed a lawsuit against the Russian Wagner PMC. The lawsuit also includes the names of the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, and the head of the Serbian State Agency for Security and Information, the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin.

According to Stojkovic, Botsan-Kharchenko enjoys diplomatic immunity as an ambassador, and therefore cannot be held criminally liable in Serbia.

After filing a criminal complaint, the State Prosecutor of Serbia must decide whether to proceed with the case. Neither the Russian embassy in Belgrade nor the Serbian State Security and Information Agency responded to requests for comment.

The agency notes that, according to observers, since 2014, dozens of Serbian volunteers and mercenaries have participated on the side of Russian-backed forces in Ukraine. At the same time, the legislative power of Serbia prohibits the participation of its citizens in conflicts abroad, and several people have been convicted for this.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić recently criticized Russian websites and social media groups for publishing an advertisement in Serbian in which the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is calling for volunteers to join its ranks.

The information about the participation of Serbs in the war in Ukraine on the side of Russia began to spread in social networks in mid-January. At that time, Russian VKontakte posted photos of alleged Serbian militants who had arrived in the Zaporizhzhia region.

• On December 24, John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator for the US National Security Council, noted that only 20% of the Wagner men fighting in Ukraine are contractors, the rest are convicts, the number of which reaches 40,000. According to him, PMC owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and other company officials recruited convicts from prisons to fight on the frontline, as they face recruitment problems among other Russians.