Russia and Ukraine: Is Moscow recruiting volunteers from the Balkans?

Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia "has no need" to recruit foreign mercenaries, another group of 30 volunteers from the Balkans reportedly left for Moscow Region to join the 106th Tula Airborne Division of the Russian Federation Army (VRF). , the BBC Russian service learns.

BBC sources claim that the recruitment of foreign volunteers takes place through the military office of Krasnogorsk, a city only 20 kilometers from Moscow.
They provided the editors with a list of alleged volunteers from the Balkans, who they claim have joined the Russian army, and the BBC managed to confirm that some of them are in Russia, while they themselves claim that they are there as "construction workers".
Allegations that Moscow is trying to recruit up to several hundred Serbian citizens to participate in the war in Ukraine were also made at the end of August by two Serbs, who fought in eastern Ukraine in 2014, on Russian state television.
Regarding the allegations that some citizens of Serbia are joining the 106th Airborne Division of the VRF, as well as participating in the organization of war in a foreign country, BBC journalists turned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia and the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, but we did not receive answers even after several of two months.
Organizing war and waging war on the territory of a foreign country are criminal offenses in Serbia, according to Articles 386a and 386b of the Criminal Code.
Participation in a war abroad is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years, and organizing a prison sentence of two to 10 years.

Why is Russia recruiting foreign mercenaries
BBC sources claim that the Russian authorities have launched the recruitment drive to delay a new round of mobilization.
"The Russian authorities want to avoid mobilization until the presidential elections in March 2024, and at the same time they are preparing reservists for quick deployment to new divisions, so as many new people as possible are needed," says Igor, head of the Red Republic organization.
This organization appeared in Russia in the summer of 2023 and claims to be fighting for the overthrow of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
They allegedly help Russian soldiers, who no longer want to fight, to leave the country.
Activists of this organization handed BBC journalists a list of alleged volunteers, who they claim traveled to Russia in two groups.
They claim that the idea of recruiting foreigners was initiated by Roman Karatayev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow Region and Head of the Main Administration of Regional Security.
Karatayev has been working for the Moscow Oblast Government since 2014, when Russia annexed part of Ukraine, and previously worked for Russia's FSB intelligence service.
The BBC was also provided with an audio recording, in which Davor Savičić, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, promises to form a Serbian brigade within the 106th Tula Airborne Division by the fall of 2023, recruiting up to a thousand Serbian citizens into it.
Back in 2014, Savičić formed a detachment of Serbs as part of the Wagner mercenary group, which was led by Yevgeny Prigozhin until his recent death, writes the BBC Russian service.
When journalists found out about it in 2016, Savicic, who at the time lived in the city of Khimki near Moscow, insisted that he was just a builder and had never been to eastern Ukraine or Syria.
At the beginning of 2023, the administrations of Russian regions and state enterprises were given the task of recruiting 150,000 foreign volunteers, and the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin recently estimated that 70 percent of the plan has been implemented so far, and that the task must be completed by the end of the year.
Top Russian officials are also talking about the fact that the number of mercenaries in the Russian army is growing, but the figures they cite do not match.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on September 3 that 230,000 Russians have voluntarily signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense since the beginning of the year.
President Vladimir Putin said on September 12 that 270,000 Russians had voluntarily signed the contracts in the past six to seven months, adding that between 1,000 and 1,500 people sign the contract every day.
However, BBC sources claim that these figures also include foreigners who enter into contracts and apply for citizenship upon arrival in Russia, with the idea that this will provide them with some protection from criminal prosecution in their country of origin.
'I'm a civil engineer'
In an attempt to verify the authenticity of the list of volunteers, the BBC contacted thirty-year-old Vukašin Stevanović - a man by that name is mentioned on the list.

Stevanovic's date of birth, listed on his Facebook profile, matches the date of birth on the list provided to BBC journalists.

On the profile, it is written that Stevanović is a second lieutenant in the reserve, and that he completed the Course of Listeners for Reserve Officers of the Serbian Army, as well as the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Subotica.

Several photos were also published, where he poses with a weapon in a military uniform.
"I was born to fight, and I will fight," reads the profile description.
However, he denies having anything to do with the recruitment.
"I am a civil engineer, you are looking for someone else, Vukašin Stevanović," he said in a message via the Viber application.
When asked about whether he had signed a contract with the Russian Federation Army, he said that he "sees no reason to answer questions".
In June 2022, he posted a selfie taken in front of the Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
BBC journalists also contacted his mother, Jovanka Stevanović Mirosavljević.
She confirmed to the BBC that her son "has been in Russia for more than a year", where he "works on a construction site".
She added that she "rarely answers, because she has problems with the mobile network".
Stevanović did not directly answer the question of whether he was in Russia, but the BBC informed the journalists that he was not in Serbia.
“As for your suspicion about my whereabouts, I don't know why I should tell you anything.
"I won't be going to Serbia soon, so you'll be waiting for yourself if you're waiting for me," he added.

What do Berić and Savičić claim?

BBC sources claim that Dejan Berić, a citizen of Serbia, and Davor Savičić, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are responsible for the recruitment.
Berić is being tried in absentia in Serbia, and he is accused of having fought on the side of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine since 2014.
Davor Savičić, a veteran of the wars of the 1990s, has so far been identified in several journalistic investigations as the leader of a detachment within the private paramilitary group Wagner, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
It is claimed that he fought in Ukraine and Syria, but Savicic denied these claims.
The two of them spoke about the recruitment of volunteers in August in the Salavyov live propaganda show on Russian state television.
"Volunteers officially sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense [of Russia], register in Krasnogorsk, and immediately from there we send them to the training ground in Ryazan [a city in Russia] for additional training, and then we send them in the direction of Luhansk [a city in eastern Ukraine under Russian control].
"The unit exists and will work," said Savičić.
Berić told the show that volunteers from abroad have the opportunity to apply for Russian citizenship.
"Guys come, we meet them, they immediately go to the military office, sign a contract and apply for citizenship.
"They don't come only from Serbia, although most are from there, but from the whole of the former Yugoslavia," he added.