Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin expressed his gratitude to Russia’s intelligence services for their support in dealing with months of anti-government protests during a visit to Moscow on March 21.

Vulin, a staunch proponent of Serbia's close ties with Russia, made the remarks while seeking Russian assistance in investigating allegations of the use of a sonic weapon during a massive protest in Belgrade on March 15.

The demonstration, the largest in Serbia's history, was organised by students and was the latest in a series of anti-government protests against President Aleksandar Vucic’s administration.

Serbia’s domestic security services, including the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA), have denied any use of a sonic weapon. However, images circulating on social media have raised questions, prompting Vucic to invite the FBI and Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to investigate.

During his visit to Moscow, Vulin thanked Russia's security council chief Sergei Shoigu for his continued support, calling him a "proven friend" of Serbia. "Shoigu has always stood by us, and we are grateful for Russia's assistance in maintaining stability in Serbia," Vulin said, according to Politika.

The Serbian deputy prime minister, who has built a reputation as Serbia’s most vocal pro-Russian figure, regularly visits Moscow to strengthen diplomatic and intelligence ties between the two nations.

In his comments to Russia's RIA news agency, Vulin expressed his appreciation for Russia’s role in countering what he referred to as "colour revolutions," a term repeatedly used by Serbian politicians to discredit opposition protests, which it claims are foreign-backed efforts to destabilise the country.

Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin has also been keen to warn about the West’s supposed involvement in the protests. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko previously suggested that the student protests are part of a broader Western strategy to undermine Serbia’s sovereignty.

As bne IntelliNews has argued, however, Serbia’s protests are a call for change, not a colour revolution. Unlike the movements which sought to topple pro-Russian regimes and bring their countries closer to the West, such as in Ukraine in 2014, Serbia’s protests are motivated by internal issues, not by antipathy toward Russia.  

In contrast to the colour revolutions, or the current protests in Georgia, there is a deep ambivalence in Serbia toward the EU. This is driven by a widespread perception among protesters that EU leaders are ultimately uninterested in the opposition in Serbia and are happy to benefit from Vucic’s so-called stabilitocracy.