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Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić is considered pro-Kremlin
Photo: MARKO DJOKOVIC / EPA
According to a media report, the Serbian Interior Ministry shadowed and spied on Russian opposition figures in Belgrade last year.
Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin then traveled to Moscow and personally handed over the transcripts of the wiretapped conversations to Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, the opposition Belgrade news portal nova.rs reported on Monday.
The portal became aware of this process and the content of the conversation between Vulin and Patrushev, the website said.
Specifically, it was about a meeting of activists from the Kremlin-critical organization "Open Russia" in May last year in a Belgrade hotel.
Organization leader is in custody
Among the participants was the head of the organization, Andrei Pivovarov.
He was arrested by Russian authorities two weeks after the meeting at St. Petersburg airport.
He has been in custody since then.
The public prosecutor accuses the 40-year-old of leading an “undesirable organization”.
Participants in the meeting had confirmed to »nova.rs« that they had noticed that they had been constantly followed during their stay in Belgrade.
According to the portal, Vulin, in turn, is said to have assured his Russian interlocutor in Moscow that he knew that "Open Russia" was acting "against Russian interests".
"For Serbia, the fight against color revolutions is extremely important," he is said to have added.
»Color revolutions« are coups in former Soviet republics, through which pro-Kremlin governments lose power – as was the case last time in Ukraine in 2014.
Under authoritarian President Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia has positioned itself as pro-Russian.
muk/dpa
