‘Evil Eagles’ Telegram channel publicly names and shames Russian dissidents
BELGRADE: They might be greater than a thousand miles from Moscow, however the lengthy arm of the Kremlin continues to be dangerously shut for Russian exiles in Serbia who oppose the invasion of Ukraine.
Tens of 1000’s have flocked to Belgrade to flee the battle again dwelling, the place sanctions, mobilisation of younger males and a crackdown on the opposition have dramatically altered life.
However Russians in Serbia who criticise the battle have additionally confronted violence, threats and on-line intimidation campaigns.
Many Serbs refused to sentence Russia, their historic ally, after it invaded Ukraine. Ultranationalist have since rallied in help of Vladimir Putin with murals hailing the Russian chief and the notorious Wagner mercenary group popping up in Belgrade.
Underneath the floor, there have been different extra worrying developments.
Each Serbian and American officers have complained that Wagner has been actively attempting to recruit fighters within the nation, leading to a uncommon condemnation of Russia from Serbian authorities final week.
The ambiance of intrigue prompted Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to match the capital to Casablanca throughout World Struggle II, the place expatriates from either side spied and plotted towards one another.
“On Christmas and New Yr Belgrade was like Casablanca — there isn’t any spy that hasn’t occupied our accommodations,” mentioned Vucic.
“In Belgrade it hasn’t been like that since World Struggle II.”
Evil Eagles
However for Russian exiles like Vladimir Volokhonskii — a former metropolis official who fled Saint Petersburg after being arrested for making an attempt to organise an anti-war rally — it has been nonetheless extra chilling.
His title and has been posted a number of instances with barrages of insults on a Telegram channel that steadily targets Russian exiles within the Balkan nation.
With 1000’s of followers, the “Evil Eagles” channel is understood for naming and shaming Russians dwelling in Serbia who’ve denounced Putin’s battle.
They’re usually branded as “traitors” and “degenerates”, whereas threats of violence towards them are frequent.
“Why is […] nonetheless strolling round Serbia with out having his face smashed in?” a latest publish learn.
The Serbian prosecutor’s workplace confirmed to AFP that they’re conscious of the group and have launched an investigation into “a number of posts”.
The brains behind “Evil Eagles” is Alexander Lysov, a Wagner-linked Russian with deep ties to Serbian nationalists.
With an workplace in Wagner’s newly-opened headquarters in Saint Petersburg, Lysov insisted his outfit works within the “informational, humanitarian and cultural subject” and rejected the notion that he instructed others to focus on Russian dissidents in Serbia.
“We try to convey to the general public that these folks in Serbia don’t have any proper to signify the Russian folks,” he advised AFP.
“They aren’t towards the Russian particular army operation, however towards Russia itself,” Lysov added.
‘Threats‘
A latest video printed on-line confirmed Lysov chatting in Wagner’s glitzy glass workplaces with Damnjan Knezevic — an notorious Serbian chief of a pro-Kremlin ultranationalist group known as the Folks’s Patrol.
“He contacted me by mutual associates and requested me to organise a tour,” Lysov mentioned. “I’d organise such a tour for any resident of Serbia.”
The assembly additionally coincided with the looks of a Folks’s Patrol mural devoted to Wagner in downtown Belgrade this month, the place members of the outfit stomped on a blue and white flag utilized by opponents of the battle.
Peter Nikitin, the pinnacle of a Russian dissident affiliation in Serbia, recognised the flag — claiming it was the identical one stolen from his group after a number of of its members had been overwhelmed by unknown assailants.
“Now we all know who did it,” Nikitin advised AFP.
Regardless of the threats, activists say they plan to proceed talking out at the same time as strain on them mounts.
“A number of folks… together with Serbs, despatched me some obscure threats,” mentioned former official Volokhonskii, with Z, the Russian image for the battle, painted on an residence in Belgrade that he frequented.
“I can not say that I really feel protected.”
