Anti-war activist banned from entering Serbia: The government is following Russia's orders

Russia has great influence on the Serbian government, which simply follows their orders, said anti-war activist of Russian origin Peter Nikitin, who was banned from entering Serbia, for Radio Free Europe (RSE) on July 14.

Nikitin, the organizer of protests in support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion and a critic of the authorities of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is spending the second day at the Belgrade airport, after he was refused entry to Serbia on July 13.

According to him, the decision to ban entry was made by the Security and Information Agency (BIA).

"I assume it was brought by Vulin personally," Nikitin said, linking BIA director Alexander Vulin to the decision.

"I have no concrete evidence for that, but there is no other explanation for what is happening," adds Nikitin.

Vulin has been on the US sanctions list since July 11, among other things, because of his ties to Russia.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the BIA did not respond to RSE's repeated inquiries about the reasons why Nikitin was banned from entering Serbia.

Nikitin, as he pointed out, is filing an appeal against the decision on the ban and will remain at the Belgrade airport until further notice. Until, as he says, they don't let him enter Serbia or they deport him.

As a foreign citizen with a Dutch and Russian passport, he has a long-term residence permit in Serbia. He has been living in Belgrade since 2016.

"The decision to ban is contradictory"

RSE: This is the second day that you have been at the Belgrade airport. Do you have any information as to why you were banned from entering Serbia?

Nikitin: It's still a puzzle.

The only information I have received from the authorities is that there is an entry ban against me. They cite that as the reason they refuse to let me into the country.

Therefore, it is complete nonsense - you are prohibited from entering the Republic of Serbia, because you are prohibited.

In other words, you are not allowed in Serbia, because we can ban you. There is no other explanation.

I heard from the members of the opposition Democratic Party in the Serbian Parliament, who promised that they would try to get information through the Assembly, with some valid explanation as to why the authorities would not let me go.

The only explanation that can, at least theoretically, be found in the Aliens Act is that I pose a threat to national security.

This immediately leads to the question of what the authorities were doing while I was engaged in an allegedly 'dangerous' activity.

And why didn't they take measures then to prevent my 'dangerous activities', if they were so dangerous that now I am not allowed to enter the country where I am a permanent resident.

The notion of being banned from entering the country where I am a permanent resident is contradictory. As long as I have the right of permanent residence, which has not been revoked, they cannot forbid me from entering the country to exercise that right.

"The border police offer me a flight to Frankfurt"

RSE: What are the border police telling you at the airport?

Nikitin: The border police behave extremely correctly and nicely towards me. They don't give me any substantive answers. The only thing they tell me is that it's not their decision, that they're just following orders 'from above'.

Which again raises the question, how is this possible, given that the decision denying me entry into the country was signed by the border police. And the border police say it's not their decision. It's also a puzzle to me.

Every day, twice a day, the border police offer me to board a flight to Frankfurt. Because I was returning from annual vacation via Frankfurt, I was in Portugal for six days.

I answer that I have nowhere to go back to, that I don't live in Frankfurt but in Belgrade. I am at home in Belgrade and I want to go home.

If I went to Frankfurt, I would stay at the airport there, as well as here.

I don't have a place to live there, nor do I have the means to live in Germany. And that's why I refuse. It has become a kind of formality now, they just offer me to board the flight, I say no, and that's it.

'I was told the decision came from above'

RSE: In your statements, you pointed out that the decision to ban entry into the country was made by the Security and Information Agency. On what basis do you claim that?

Nikitin: When I arrived at the Belgrade airport, for passport control, on July 13 after midnight, my passport was taken and I was told to wait. When I asked what I was waiting for, I was told that they were waiting for a response from the BIA.

RSE: In your statements to the media, you linked the decision to ban you from entering Serbia to BIA director Aleksandar Vulin. On what basis do you claim that?

Nikitin: I was told that the decision was made by higher-ups, 'from above'. I assume Vulin brought it himself. If not President Vučić.

Because, when I was seen as a participant in the first (oppositional) protest 'Serbia against violence', tabloid articles appeared about it, that I was allegedly 'creating chaos' in Belgrade.

And then President Vučić (in his comment on the protest) mentioned me by name and called me 'the main advocate of Ukrainian interests in Serbia'.

If President Vučić personally pays attention to me, then I assume that BIA Director Vulin does as well.

'Our activism in Serbia destroys the myth of Putin'

RSE: Why do you think that your activist work could be a problem for the government in Serbia?

Niktin: I do not believe that my activist work represents any problem for the government in Serbia.

Because the Russian Democratic Society, of which I am the founder, in accordance with its manifesto, does not interfere in Serbia's internal affairs, as long as it does not concern the interests of Russians and the Russian-speaking diaspora, including the Ukrainian and Belarusian diaspora.

We do not interfere in internal affairs.

We, as an organization, went to the first protest of 'Serbia against violence' only once with posters against war propaganda and graffiti calling for violence, which is directly related to what we as an association do.

I also participated in the 'Serbia against violence' protests personally, not in front of the Russian Democratic Society, because I have two children in Serbia and my older child attends the 'Vladislav Ribnikar' school (where a mass murder took place, which triggered the protests in Serbia on which the responsibility of the authorities is sought, eg RSE).

And that concerns me personally.

I don't believe that any of this represents a danger to the Serbian government, but it represents a very big danger to the Russian government, to President Vladimir Putin and his regime.

Because their main propaganda platitude is that Putin is Russia, that Putin and Russia are the same, and that all Russians as one support the war and Putin. And our activism destroys that myth.

By doing so, we are bothering them. Obviously, they have a very big influence on the Serbian government, which simply follows their orders. I have no concrete evidence for this, but there is no other explanation for what is happening.

'Protests in support of Ukraine organized without problems'

RSE: Did you, in any way, have a problem when organizing protests in support of Ukraine, which you organized in Serbia since the beginning of the invasion? How was the cooperation with the police?

Nikitin: No. All protest gatherings and events, in support of the people of Ukraine or Russian political prisoners, were announced, reported to the police and allowed. And they were carried out in very close cooperation with the police.

The only time we had a problem was on February 24, the anniversary of the war, at that time there were extreme right-wing activities in Serbia.

The police then told us that we should abandon the protest march we had planned, but rather hold the protest in one place. They were afraid of right-wing provocations and violence and told us that they could not guarantee our safety.

We then obeyed the police request and held a protest in one place.

Other than that, we never had any problems. We were never called for an interview with the police, received reports or anything like that.

'I created a home in Serbia'

RSE: Why did you decide to be such an active member of the community, considering that you organize protests, you have founded the Russian Democratic Society?

Niktin: The point is that there was a great need among the Russian diaspora for some kind of protest. This was even before the war in Ukraine, when Alexei Navalny (a Russian opposition member) was arrested.

At that moment there were protests all over Europe, the Russian diaspora supported Navalny.

But the Russian people in Serbia were scared to organize those protests themselves, because they were afraid that they would have problems with extending their residence permits, that they might have problems with the Russian embassy, ​​regarding the extension of their passports.

Many Russians in Serbia still have family in Russia, so they feared for their safety.

I was last in Russia in 2016. I don't have anyone in Russia anymore, all my relatives left it a long time ago. I have Dutch citizenship and permanent residence in Serbia, so it was logical for me to be the organizer of all this.

I have been living in Serbia since 2016, but in fact I have been coming to Serbia for much longer. My first arrival in Serbia was in February 2003 when I met my wife, and since then I have been in Serbia regularly.

I learned the language, I fell in love with Serbia and I made a home here.