The head of the Serbian Military Security Agency (VBA), Djuro Jovanic, said that his agency had long warned about an alleged planned sabotage of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. He called the suspect in the incident “a person from a group of migrants” and the explosives themselves made in the United States.
The statement by the head of the VBA, which he made at a briefing on April 5, was cited by the Serbian state broadcaster RTS (Radio-televizija Srbije).
Among other things, Jovanic claims that for months the agency he headed reported to President Aleksandar Vucic “that something like this could happen today,” but, he says, they “met with skepticism, disapproval, disagreement.”
“We had information that one person from a group of migrants, fit for military service, would try to sabotage the gas infrastructure,” he said, assuring that this person would be detained.
The VBA director emphasized that misinformation has emerged that Serbian army servicemen will work “for some other or third party, finding Ukrainian explosives and accusing Ukrainians of organizing sabotage.”
“That's not true. What does it mean who made the explosive? It doesn't mean he ordered it or carried it out,” he said.
Jovanic also said that the markings on the explosive found near a section of the Turkish Stream pipeline in Serbia on the border with Hungary indicate that it was manufactured in the United States.
“Today we found: explosives, specially packaged, hermetically sealed, detonator capsules, specially prepared and packaged for transportation, as well as a detonator and the appropriate tools and equipment for preparing this explosive for sabotage. I will reveal to you a detail from the investigation, the marking on the explosive indicates that it was manufactured in the USA,” he said.
What preceded this?
On April 5, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that explosives had been discovered on a section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline connecting Serbia and Hungary. Against this backdrop, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that he would convene an emergency council.
At the same time, the leader of the opposition party “Tisa” Peter Magyar accused Orban and the Serbian authorities of trying to “carry out another false flag operation.” He also said that there was previously information that something would “accidentally” happen to the gas pipeline in Serbia on Easter – a week before the elections in Hungary.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that Kyiv had no connection to the explosives found near the pipeline, suggesting that it was most likely “a Russian operation under a foreign flag as part of Moscow's interference in the elections in Hungary.”