Ever since the current Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, officially came to power in 2012, one of the main tasks of the Serbian government has been to steer any anti-government protest away from a liberal-democratic character. For this purpose, the Serbian security apparatus has created numerous anti-Western, pro-Russian (go)NGOs, extremist hooligan groups, and war veteran organizations, among others, in order to infiltrate Serbian anti-government protests. The Serbian student protests of 2024–25 are no exception. In this NIFA analysis, we will briefly examine the war veteran groups that the student protest organizers have embraced as their “personal guards.”
Individual dossiers of leading members of Serbian war veteran groups who infiltrated the student protests may be found here:
They were also previously present at various Serbian anti-government protests promoting pro Russian, Serbian national-revisionist narratives. For instance together with a known pro Russian extremist Damnjan Knežević (b. 1988), they insulted and verbally attacked TV N1 journalist Nenad Nešić at a protest held on Dec. 13, 2021:
Even though symbols of Russian aggression against Ukraine and Serbian national-revisionist flags had previously appeared at student protests, Serbian war veterans with the same symbols admittedly and officially joined in an organized manner during a large student protest that blockaded Autokomanda for 24 hours on January 27, 2025. There, they freely waved Russian and Serbian national-revisionist flags, joined by a few other known agents of Russian influence in Serbia, such as again a known extremist Damnjan Knežević (b. 1988). At the protest, they were warmly welcomed, without any visible public outcry from the protesters.
They continued this practice uninterrupted and without a single public voice of concern from Serbian opposition parties or the media. On the contrary, they have been even promoted by Serbian so-called opposition and/or independent media (1, 2, 3). Here is another example form Apr. 27, 2025. where they honored symbol of Russian aggression against Ukraine, so-called Flag of Orthodox Army (Battle of Kulikovo), as well as a Serbian government originated national-revisionist flag Nema predaje – No surrender of Kosovo:
In order to further boost their popularity in public, openly pro-Serbian government supporters provoked an incident with the war veteran group in downtown Belgrade on May 1, 2025. Short skirmishes broke out that ended without any sustained physical injuries. This has been a known tactic of the Serbian security apparatus—to boost the visibility and perceived legitimacy of actors likely to damage the reputation of the anti-government protests. Almost immediately afterward, Serbian “independent” media, including openly pro-Russian extremist Internet portals, began reporting on the incident while the majority of Serbian opposition parties voiced public support for this openly anti-Western, pro-Russian veteran group. Below is a video excerpt of skirmishes occurred on May 1, 2025 as reported by a known pro Russian Internet media in Serbia HelmCast. One can see a freely displayed flag of Slovakia carried by Serbian military veterans simultaneously promoting war veteran Željko Vukelić (b. 1968) affiliated ethnic minority Slovakian political party Vojnovi veterani pre Srbsko as well as promoting appeasement policies of Slovakian president Robert Fico as to Russian aggression against Ukraine:
As members of the Serbian student protests made trips to Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament, and to Brussels, the seat of the Council of the European Union, to plead their cause, student plenums continued their official relationship with the war veteran groups.