One of the instructors who trained paramilitaries in Serbia for the riots before and after the Moldovan elections Sergey Alexandrovich Andreenkov He is a member of Putin's ruling United Russia party and an advisor to the head of the illegitimate occupation authorities of the Ukrainian Kharkiv region, "Vijesti" has determined.
The 41-year-old Russian has entered Montenegro from Serbia twice since the beginning of August, together with a colleague from Belarus. Aliaksandrom Hontarauom (54), data from security services obtained by the newspaper.
According to the same information, they were soon returning to Serbia, most likely to secure legal residence there, as Russians and Belarusians can stay in that country without a visa for up to 30 days.
In the Sunčana Reka complex there, between Loznica and Banja Koviljača, their task was to prepare more than 150 people of a pro-Russian orientation, from July to September this year, for recognizing combat targets, shooting at the shooting range, and the training was organized with the aim of preparing the participants for organizing unrest in the elections in Moldova, which were held on Sunday, in the event of an "unfavorable result" for the pro-Russian parties there.
According to Moldovan data, instructors trained them in combat and taught them how to, among other things, use weapons and break through police cordons. Following the arrest of a group of camp participants in Moldova, there was no unrest in that country after Sunday's elections.
BIRN recently reported that Russian and Belarusian instructors were also entering Montenegro.
"According to our data, Sergey Aleksandrovich Andreenkov and Aliaksandr Hontarau crossed the Montenegrin state border together, via the Rancha border crossing. One exit was not registered, probably due to selective control. They entered for the first time on August 10 at 10:41 a.m., in a Volkswagen with Loznica license plates. No exit was recorded that day, however, there was a new entry on September 2 at 11:38 a.m., also in a Volkswagen with Loznica license plates, but different ones. They left the country less than an hour later, at 12:29 p.m., in the same car," said a source from the security services for "Vijesti".
Jelena Zoric, a BIRN journalist and co-author of the article about the Russian military camp in Serbia, believes that Andreenkov and Hontarau entered Montenegro only for bureaucratic reasons, to fill out a form, to show how little they have traveled around the region. Russian and Belarusian citizens can stay in Serbia without a visa for up to 30 days.
Zorić explains that it was much closer for them to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina from Loznica than Montenegro, but that would obviously be too suspicious because BiH is also in the focus of investigative media and security services precisely because of these pro-Russian paramilitary camps.
"Montenegro seemed like a more neutral zone, but that is certainly something that is still under investigation. All of this needs to be worked out and investigated to see if there are other groups there that are also providing training and possibly providing them with shelter. Maybe Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not the only ones in the region that were suitable for something like that," the BIRN journalist points out.
PUTIN'S FOLLOWER
Andreenkov ran in the Smolensk city council elections this year, according to data from the website of the ruling pro-Putin party headed by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and the independent portal gogov.ru, which provides various information services to Russian citizens, including those on the results of local elections.
The United Russia website states that in May, Andreenkov participated in preliminary, party elections for candidates for the seventh convocation of the city council in this city in western Russia, near the border with Belarus.
The description of his candidacy states that he was born in that city, his date of birth (August 1984), and that he graduated from the Bryansk State Academy of Engineering and Technology in 2009, and after six years of study, he obtained a bachelor's degree in the title of organization manager.
The results of those elections for the 9th constituency in Smolensk were also published on the gogov.ru website, with the number of votes for six United Russia candidates, including Andreenkov in fourth place with 309 votes. Photos of all the candidates, except his, were also published.
The same information about candidate Andreenkov was published on that website, with additional information that he is employed in the Military-Civil Administration of the Kharkiv Region, as an advisor to the chief. Vitaly Konstantinovich Ganchev, whose name is on the EU and US blacklists of individuals sanctioned for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A large part of the Kharkiv region was occupied by the Russian army from February to September 2022, but after a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army, most of it was liberated. The headquarters of the occupation authorities, which govern the small, unliberated part of the territory along the border, was moved to the nearby Russian city of Belgorod.
On the official Telegram channel of the Military-Civil Administration of the Kharkiv Region, there are three posts in March and April about Andreenkov’s activities as a “volunteer” or “activist” of the United Russia Assistance Center.
In posts with photos and videos, he talks about distributing humanitarian aid to “refugees from Kharkiv in the border regions of Russia.”
"Vijesti" was unable to find more detailed information about the second instructor from Loznica, Aliaksandr Hontarau.
ARRESTS IN MOLDOVA AND SERBIA
The story of the paramilitary camp in Serbia was raised by the pro-European President of Moldova, Maja Sandu, ahead of the parliamentary elections held on September 28, which were crucial for the political future of that candidate for membership in the European Union.
Just six days before those elections, Moldovan prosecutors and police arrested 74 people in a major operation on September 22nd - on suspicion of preparing riots in the country ahead of and after the parliamentary elections.
The operation resulted in 250 searches and the seizure of weapons, tents, SIM cards, passports, and money.
"The searches are related to criminal proceedings regarding the preparation of mass riots and destabilization, which were coordinated from the Russian Federation through criminal elements," police said last Monday.
Director of the Moldovan Secret Service Alexander Musteata He announced that a person “who presented himself on behalf of a Russian special service” directly coordinated the training and that an officer of the Russian military intelligence service GRU, who had previously organized subversive activities in the EU, Asia and Africa, coordinated “destabilizing actions in the electoral context.”
Russia on Monday denied interfering in any way in the parliamentary elections in Moldova.
"The Moldovan authorities cynically accused Russia, not the European Union, of interfering in the political processes in Moldova, fueling insinuations about a 'Russian threat' that does not exist," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. Maria Zakharova.
The European Commission is investigating how it was possible that dozens of Moldovans were reportedly trained in Serbia in destabilization tactics, the Enlargement Commissioner said. Marta Kos for Radio Free Europe.
They were arrested in Serbia last Thursday Lazar Popovic (37) and Savo Stevanović (47) on suspicion of having participated in the organization and financing of the camp near Loznica.
The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that during a search of the suspects' apartments, police seized laptops, mobile phones, as well as a device for detecting and monitoring radio-frequency signals and a gun.
According to the investigation, one of the arrested is suspected of paying around 10 euros to paramilitary training instructors through his companies and cards for games on gambling machines.
Arrested Lazar Popović was once an advisor Nenad Popovic, the current minister without portfolio in charge of international economic cooperation and the social position of the church in the country and abroad. A BIRN source says that the arrested Popović has not been in regular contact with Minister Popović in recent years.
Savo Stevanović was also a member of Popović's party.
Camps in Serbia have been organized before.
Moldova last year arrested eight people on suspicion of preparing to cause mass riots before, during and after the country's presidential election, in which pro-EU President Maja Sandu ultimately won another term, defeating Aleksandra Stojanogla, which was supported by the pro-Russian current.
From August to October last year, they were trained in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the village of Glamočani, near Banja Luka, is cited as one of the possible locations, and in Serbia, in the village of Radenka, near the border with Romania, according to testimonies from participants.
At least four participants and organizers of the training camps are being prosecuted in Moldova, and the case has since been filed by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN previously reported.
Zorić: It is possible that they were under surveillance by the services
Journalist Zorić points out that there is a possibility that the instructors from the camp were under longer surveillance.
"If the arrest was a coordinated action, and not political pressure, then literally all services in the region had information and exchanged information. If the arrests in Serbia were due to political pressure, then this means that the security services will only now exchange all information, and it will be ongoing again. However, this is a problem for the entire region, and a wider region that also includes EU countries such as Romania, and this cannot happen without coordination between the security services of the European Union and all Balkan countries from the territory of the former SFRY," concludes Jelena Zorić.
Zorić states that it is suspected that there have been more such camps on the territory of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for a long time.
"According to our sources close to the Sunčana Reka complex, on at least 4-5 occasions, groups of 40-50 people came, paid for full board and mostly spent their time in the conference room. The pattern was the same, two men who spoke Russian always came before them. We do not know whether they were Serbian citizens who spoke Russian, who were arrested, or whether they were instructors, two men would always come before everyone else, welcome the group of 40-50 people and hold so-called seminars for them in the conference room. However, according to data from the police investigation, there is a suspicion that they were learning shooting and handling firearms. For example, in that very complex, near Banja Koviljača, there is also a shooting range," she explained.
Zorić added that the shooting range is close to the border with BiH, explaining that it is a large complex where it is possible to practice shooting without arousing suspicion.
"We heard that they were considering other locations, like Zlatibor, but that it was too busy for them"...
He points out that the arrests in Serbia are connected to those in Moldova, but that it is also suspected that training was also carried out in the territory of Vojvodina, also along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It delivers ammunition, electronic warfare equipment, aid to the war zone...
The United Russia Assistance Center, under the auspices of humanitarian aid, is delivering ammunition, electronic warfare equipment, medicine, food, and first aid supplies to the war zone, for which four "volunteers" received medals from the Ministry of Defense on May 28, including Andreenkov.
They were awarded the medals "For Contribution to Strengthening the Defense of the Russian Federation" by the Military Commissar of the Smolensk Region, Major General Andrei Certkov, based on the order of the Russian Minister of Defense.
The United Russia website announced that they received the medals for their significant contribution to strengthening defense.
"Since the beginning of the special military operation, our compatriots, the Smolyans, have been actively participating in the humanitarian mission of United Russia. They are delivering cargoes of ammunition, special equipment, medicines, food, necessary things, as well as letters and packages from families to the special operation zone," Chertkov said that day, according to the JR website.
It was explained that they were delivering cargo to the front line, "to the liberated territories, as well as to the Belgorod and Kursk regions."
"Together with our volunteers from the United Russia Assistance Center, we have been providing our military units with electronic warfare equipment, communications equipment, and all other equipment needed at the front. We will continue to do so, in cooperation with our units," said one of the awarded volunteers.
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