Why Serbia played along with Orbán over a "terrorist attack" but immediately defended Ukraine
On the night of 5 April, officers of Serbia’s Criminal Police Directorate, together with military police and other army units, carried out large-scale inspections in the municipality of Kanjiža, searching for "items that pose a danger to citizens' lives".
The inspections proved fruitful. By the morning of 5 April, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced the discovery of two backpacks containing explosives and detonators, located near a gas pipeline transporting Russian gas to Hungary.
Read more about how Serbia prevented Orbán from fully exploiting the "sabotage" story and what might be behind it in the article by Yurii Panchenko, European Pravda's editor: A 'terrorist attack' without a Ukrainian trace: why the Serbian president did not play along with Orbán.
According to President Vučić, the explosives were found in the Serbian municipality of Kanjiža. This municipality has the highest share of citizens of Hungarian origin – more than 80% of its residents are ethnic Hungarians, and likely most of them also hold Hungarian citizenship.
Under such circumstances, a potential terrorist attack would appear not only as an attack on Hungary’s economic interests, but also as a targeted threat to the lives of Hungarians.
And this is an ideal pass for Orbán’s propaganda.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urgently convened a meeting of the national security council, which decided to further strengthen the protection of energy facilities.
Thus, he used the story at least to increase the level of fear in the country, positioning himself as a guarantor of peace who would prevent both Hungary’s involvement in war and "economic pressure" from Ukraine.
After the report about the discovery of explosives, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó immediately hinted at a "Ukrainian trace".
"Previously, Ukrainians blew up Nord Stream. After the explosions, they long claimed it was Russia, which doesnt make sense, because why would Russia blow up its own pipelines?... In recent weeks dozens of drones have repeatedly attacked the Turkish Stream on Russian territory, which supplies gas to Hungary, and now the terrorist attack thwarted by Serbia looks like part of these attacks," Szijjártó reacted promptly.
The Kremlin also saw a "Ukrainian trace".
However, Serbia’s reaction was much more surprising, as it did not support Orbán’s anti-Ukrainian hysteria.
Serbian officials chose not to take part in Hungary’s anti-Ukrainian campaign. In particular, Đuro Jovanić, the director of Serbia’s Military Security Agency, stated that Serbian services had found no "Ukrainian trace" in the attempted sabotage of the gas pipeline.
According to him, the explosives were found several hundred meters from the pipeline, and were in a state suitable for transport, not for immediate use.
The disclosure of such details indicates that Serbia is aiming for de-escalation.
This clearly contradicts Viktor Orbán’s plans, as it prevents him from fully using the incident for his political purposes.
After such news from Serbia, Orbán himself began speaking much more cautiously.
"I would not further damage Hungarian-Ukrainian relations by accusing any country, including Ukraine, of being behind this without reviewing all the facts. Let us wait for the facts that the Serbs will provide," the Hungarian prime minister now says.
So it appears that another show of strength and attempt to scare voters is all Viktor Orbán managed to extract from this story.
Why might Serbia’s government, friendly to Orbán, have opted for de-escalation? It is possible that this reflects the weakening position of the Hungarian prime minister’s party, Fidesz, as openly siding with Orbán now brings more problems than opportunities.