Media: Russia attempting to send Serbian mercenaries to the war in Ukraine

The Kremlin is attempting to hire Serbian private soldiers for deployment to Ukraine, BBC News Russian reported on Friday.

The mercenaries are being registered as volunteers from the Moscow region because the region has allegedly failed to fulfil the requirements of the “clandestine” mobilisation effort — the hiring of contract servicemen instead of declaring another nationwide draft call. The fighters are then sent to the 106th division of Russia’s Airborne Troops. 

The BBC’s sources claim that this scheme was conceived by Roman Karatayev, deputy head of the Moscow regional government and a graduate of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Academy. The effort was then joined by Davor Savičić, head of the Wagner Group’s Serbian platoon, and Marko Milošević, the son of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milošević. The latter was supposed to guarantee his “former compatriots that the Russian side will go through with all the agreements”.

Savičić had planned to form a Serbian brigade within the 106th airborne division, hiring up to 1,000 Serbian nationals. About 100 people had passed the registration process at the time that the BBC began its research. The hiring effort has since been put on hold.

The French outlet Intelligence Online was the first to report on Moscow’s plans to recruit 500 Serbian nationals for the Ukraine war back in late August.

In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing foreign nationals to sign military contracts in Russia for one year. Previously, foreigners wishing to fight on Russia’s side had to sign five-year contracts.