Russian mercenaries are deployed in Syria, in African countries and now on the front lines in Ukraine to fight for Moscow’s interests. On December 2, the Russian mercenary group Wagner announced on Telegram that they would also open a “cultural center” in Belgrade. The head of the Serbian center is a certain Alexander Lisov, Wagner said in the statement.
Pristina blacklisted this Lisov in 2017. It was this Lisov who registered the Wagner paramilitary group in St. Petersburg as a non-profit organization in 2017, Balkan Insights writes on Facebook. Höhnisch wrote Wagner in the December 2 Telegram entry: “Due to his charitable activities, the authorities in Pristina put Lisov in 2017 on the list of people not allowed to enter the territory of the unrecognized ‘Republic of Kosovo’.”
A Wagner center in Belgrade and a preventive entry ban for the Russian director of the center: some ten months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Serbian provocations are once again causing tension in the western Balkans. On Sunday, Belgrade ordered the army chief to the border with Kosovo, and on Monday Belgrade put the armed forces on “highest combat readiness”. This feeds speculation that Serbia is the extended arm of Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) and that the Kremlin has a hand in the recently flared tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.
“Threatened, insulted and mistreated by Russian mercenaries”
The same Russian mercenaries in Serbia are now threatening to threaten travelers from Switzerland stranded by tensions in Serbia and border closures. As the Albanian information portal “Le Canton 27” published in Switzerland reports, “thousands of emigrants from Switzerland are trapped in Serbia, heading to Kosovo for the year-end holiday”. A local correspondent speaks of ‘armoured’ barricades. The travelers were “threatened, insulted and mistreated by Serbian gangs and Russian mercenaries – including drunks. They hold knives and guns in front of children.”
“Le Canton 27” clearly represents Pristina’s point of view, but is not considered a source of false reports. The border crossing is Merdare, the main border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo. Affected travelers would apparently seek help from the Swiss embassy in Belgrade. Travelers are encouraged to use other border crossings into Kosovo that are still open.
As the Serbian portal “Danas” reports on Wednesday evening, several groups with heavy vehicles blocked the border crossing on the Serbian side. According to “Le Canton 27”, the “Government of Kosovo and the police are in the process of removing barricades erected by a Serbian and Russian Wagner group”.