Serbian intelligence officers tested sonic guns on dogs in collaboration with the notorious Russian security service, official documents seen by Politico show.
Documents from Serbian institutions confirm that the administration of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić conducted experiments with powerful loudspeakers, colloquially known as sound cannons, two weeks after an anti-government protest in Belgrade that was interrupted by what demonstrators described as a devastating sonic boom.
The joint testing of sonic weapons on animals points to the depth of security cooperation between Russia - the European Union's most aggressive adversary - and Serbia, an EU candidate country whose accession process is stalled as the government faces serious political challenges.
Long-Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) are advertised as long-range communication devices, but their use at close range can cause hearing damage. According to previous reports, they can also cause headaches, dizziness and nausea. Serbian authorities have denied that sound cannons were used against protesters.
The biggest protests in decades
Serbia is in the midst of its largest protest movement in decades. For more than a year, tens of thousands of citizens - at times hundreds of thousands - have taken to the streets across the country, participating in regular protests that reflect a deepening dissatisfaction with the government.
During one of the largest protests, on March 15, 2025, a sudden, deafening noise ripped through Belgrade's main thoroughfare, forcing those gathered to duck and seek cover.
Footage recorded from multiple angles shows the disturbance rippling through the packed crowd before people began to flee in panic. Protesters who called Belgrade's emergency services reported nausea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness. They said they heard a sound like a "motorcycle column" or a "locomotive" approaching them.
After initially rejecting accusations that the authorities used a sound cannon, Vučić stated that "a full investigation will be conducted within 48 hours, after which all those responsible for such brutal fabrications and lies will be held accountable before the competent authorities."
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic also denied any abuse, insisting that Serbia "did not use any illegal means, including the so-called sound cannon."
The role of the Russian FSB
A month after the protests, the Serbian Security Information Agency (BIA) published a report commissioned by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), claiming that high-volume devices "were not used during the protests" and that there was no massive "psychological, moral and physical impact on people."
The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Animal testing
According to documents obtained by Politico, compiled by the BIA and a ministry, the animal testing was conducted as part of an investigation following the protests.
The goal was to assess whether the symptoms described by the protesters matched the effects of sound cannons, which Serbian officials had previously admitted were in the possession of the police.
About two weeks after the protest, Serbian and Russian intelligence experts gathered a group of dogs at a BIA training ground to assess the "effect of the emitters on biological objects." The dogs were chosen for their "high sensitivity to acoustic effects."
According to the documents, the animals were exposed to two models of LRAD devices – the LRAD 100X MAG-HS and the LRAD 450XL – manufactured by Genasys, a California-based company, from distances of "200, 150, 100, 50 and 25 meters."
The technical data for these models states that they can emit sound levels of up to 150 decibels – the equivalent of the noise of a jet plane taking off.
The documents also indicate that the tests may have been conducted without the necessary permits for animal experiments.
"The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management... has no knowledge of whether tests have been conducted on the effects of the LRAD 100H and LRAD 450XL, as well as other tests of the effects of various devices on dogs," the documents state.
"This ministry has never received a request for approval to conduct animal testing, nor has a decision been made to approve the testing in question, nor other similar testing," it added.
"Experiments or abuse"
Danilo Ćurčić, a human rights lawyer from Serbia, said the dogs were "subjected to experiments or abuse," as defined by Serbia's Animal Welfare Law.
He stated that the law requires that experiments on animals be reported in advance and approved by the relevant authorities - including an ethics committee - and that it expressly prohibits animal testing for the purpose of "testing weapons and military equipment."
Radomir Lazović, an opposition politician, described the tests as "part of Aleksandar Vučić's campaign to cover up the use of sound cannons against his own citizens during the protests in March."
"Thousands of people experienced the massive effects of this sonic weapon firsthand last year," said Lazović.
In its report on the experiments on dogs, the FSB insisted that "during the transmission of the basic and test signals, the biological objects (dogs) did not show any discomfort (changes in behavior) at the tested distances". It also stated that the dogs were examined three days after the tests and that "they did not show any changes in their health".
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