September 2025.
As part of the program Regional Initiative for combating disinformation “Western Balkans Combatting disinformation Center: Exposing malicious influences through fact-checking and Analytical Journalism“, we present you a new analysis of fake news and disinformation narratives.
Operation “Serbian Maidan”: Details from the Russian SVR report, experts convinced of one thing
https://informer.rs/politika/vesti/1051391/ruska-slazba-svr-srpski-majdan-evropska-unija
Student and civic protests in Serbia have been ongoing for nearly eleven months, posing the greatest challenge yet to the thirteen-year rule of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The protests, which began after the collapse of the newly renovated canopy at the Novi Sad railway station and called for both criminal and political accountability, represent the largest public mobilization in Serbia in decades.
Despite the volatility of the protest movement in recent weeks, mass commemorative gatherings are expected in Novi Sad and across Serbia on November 1, the anniversary of the canopy collapse. In mid-September, a controversial report related to the protests was published, provoking polarized reactions and dividing the Serbian public. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) released a report alleging that European countries were planning to organize a “Maidan” in Serbia on November 1 — drawing parallels with the events in Ukraine in 2014 and the fall of Viktor Yanukovych’s government.
Pro-government and pro-Russian media in Serbia extensively covered the Russian intelligence report, heavily promoting anti-opposition and anti-Western narratives. The most widely circulated pro-government tabloid Informer published an article titled “Operation ‘Serbian Maidan’: Details from the Russian SVR report, experts convinced of one thing”, emphasizing that it was “an attempt by Western elites to turn the situation in their favor, focusing on brainwashing Serbian youth and promoting a bright European future — for which certain media outlets and NGOs receive funding.”
Referring to the SVR report, Informer wrote that “the European Union is preparing a Serbian Maidan… the current unrest in Serbia, with the active participation of young people, is largely the product of the subversive activities of the European Union and its member states.” It further claimed that “the goal of the European liberal mainstream is to bring to power leadership loyal to Brussels… Brussels expects that financially boosting the media and NGOs will mobilize the protest electorate, bring people to the streets, and conclude the Serbian Maidan following a well-tested scenario.”
The article also stresses, again citing the SVR report, that “the color revolution scenario, which the West has successfully implemented in many countries, is not yielding results in Serbia… the reason lies in strong patriotic sentiment, reinforced by the activities of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the memory of NATO aggression and the bombing of the country.” Traditional elements of anti-Western narratives — claiming that unnamed Western structures are undermining Serbian authorities due to their sovereign foreign policy and ties with Russia — are included in this and other Informer stories about the Russian report on the alleged plans for November 1.
Pro-Russian media, such as the Serbian branch of Russia Today, reported similarly. In an article titled “Whose ranks were stirred by the SVR statement on plans for a Serbian Maidan”, they cited President Aleksandar Vučić saying that “Serbia always carefully follows and reads every statement from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service and thanks its Russian partners for the information.”
The Russian SVR statement presents claims unsupported by any concrete evidence and can be interpreted as interference in Serbia’s internal affairs. Likewise, this is not the first time Russian officials have described protests in Serbia as a color revolution or “Maidan,” echoing the Ukrainian precedent, thus spreading anti-Western narratives and undermining the legitimacy of Western actors in the region. Similarly, Serbian authorities, when faced with crises, often amplify anti-Western messages as a way to stigmatize opposition and student protests as being orchestrated from abroad.
Author: Igor Mirosavljević
