Belgrade, Dec 25 – Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, in light of the unrest that erupted in front of the Belgrade administration on Sunday, expressed gratitude to Russian intelligence services for providing information about the planned disorder. President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, scheduled meetings with Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko on Monday, as announced by their press offices. “I can only express my gratitude, and this may not be popular in the West, but I genuinely feel that it is important to defend Serbia and thank the people from Russian intelligence who had all this information and shared it with us and everyone else. And everyone else said, ‘Oh well, no, this is Russian disinformation’,” said the Serbian Prime Minister. According to the President of Serbia, two police officers sustained serious injuries during the protests, and over 35 participants were detained. Earlier, supporters of the opposition bloc “Serbia Against Violence,” who disagreed with the results of the December 17 elections, started the unrest and occupied the steps in front of the representative and executive body of Belgrade. The protesters smashed windows and threw pieces of cobblestone at the doors and windows of the parliament building, attempting to break in, while the police responded with tear gas. Late in the evening on Sunday, the police dispersed the protesters in front of the Belgrade administration within a few minutes, clearing the square and setting up a cordon. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, in his address to the citizens amidst the unrest, stated that these protests in Belgrade were an attempt to deprive Serbia of its independence and sovereignty, and the authorities would protect order. He also expressed gratitude to the partner intelligence services of other countries, which, according to him, had warned the Serbian authorities about the planned disorder. According to Vucic, around 2,500 people gathered near the parliament building, with less than half of them participating in the disorder.
