Serbian military intelligence rejects Hungarian claims that Ukraine planned gas pipeline sabotage operation

On April 5, with his ruling Fidesz party trailing badly in the polls ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán convened a security council meeting to discuss an alleged Ukrainian plot to halt the flow of Russian gas to Hungary by carrying out an act of sabotage on the pipeline infrastructure of Serbia. Earlier that day, Serbian authorities had indeed found approximately 4 kilograms of hermetically sealed explosives, detonator caps, and safety fuses near the village of Velebit, located approximately 20 kilometers from the Hungarian border. Despite Orbán’s allegations, the authorities in Belgrade see no sign of Ukrainian involvement in the incident.

The head of Serbia’s Military Security Agency (VBA), Lt. Gen. Đuro Jovanić, said he had been warning President Aleksandar Vučić and the country’s leadership for months about possible attacks on the country’s gas infrastructure, but his warnings were met with skepticism, according to a report by Euronews Srbija. According to Jovanić, the operation to detect explosives near the gas pipeline in the municipality of Kanjiža was preceded by serious intelligence work. The VBA had information that a person with military training “from a group of migrants” intended to carry out an act of sabotage. Jovanić said the suspect would be detained.

“For months, we have been pointing out to the Commander-in-Chief, President Aleksandar Vučić, as well as the state leadership, that something like this could happen today. To be honest, we encountered skepticism, disapproval, disagreement — just as we did when we had to present the relevant data about the threat to gas infrastructure,” he said.

The VBA chief also commented on claims that Serbian authorities had staged the attempted bombing in order to later blame Ukrainians, an allegation raised by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and the Hungarian opposition. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi called the incident a Russian false-flag operation aimed at influencing Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary election.

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar, for his part, said many people had predicted in advance that such an incident would occur on a Serbian gas pipeline. Reuters, citing a former Hungarian intelligence officer, also reported that Hungarian security services had in recent days discussed a sabotage scenario in Serbia as a potential tool for influencing the elections. Jovanić rejected those accusations while characterizing any claims that Serbian military personnel had planted the explosives themselves in order to frame Ukraine as disinformation.

Yesterday, Serbian President Vučić wrote on Instagram that Serbian military and police had found “high-powered explosives” and devices for activating them near the gas pipeline through which Russian gas flows via Serbia to Hungary. After a phone call with Vučić, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on Facebook that he had convened an emergency meeting of the Defense Council.

After the meeting, Orbán claimed that “according to the available information, sabotage was being prepared,” adding that “Ukraine has been trying for years to cut Europe off from Russian energy.” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said directly that the incident “fits into a series of Ukrainian attacks” on the transit of Russian gas and oil to Europe, comparing it to the Nord Stream explosions in 2022.

Belgrade-based political scientist Aleksandar Jokić told The Insider that “it’s all a game; there was no sabotage”:

“It’s simply a way to help Orbán ahead of the elections. Vucic provided a plausible narrative that Orban picked up on. But Vucic didn’t blame Ukraine for this because he doesn’t want to get into a conflict with Europe. The Serbian leader did Orban a favor, but didn’t want to jeopardize relations with Brussels. Orban’s entire campaign is built on bashing Ukraine.”