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Volunteers from former Yugoslavia’s ethnic Serb minority have begun combat training in Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Region, where they have been deployed to support the Russian-led war effort, according to reports from the region’s acting governor Yevgeny Balitsky on January 17. “Serbian volunteers have begun to carry out combat training tasks, including coordination and cohesion as members of the Pavel Sudoplatov battalion,” he stated, adding that recruitment of new personnel for the Serb volunteer battalion was continuing. The Serb minorities in several Yugoslav successor states have been supportive of Russia in its ongoing war effort in Ukraine , with the historical memory of the Yugoslav Wars when NATO members and the organisation collectively supported other minorities with arms, training and direct strikes against what were seen to be Serb interests. The participation of Serb volunteers in the Russian-Ukrainian War has nevertheless been strongly criticised by Belgrade, with Defence Minister Milos Vucevic warning that they would be held accountable for participating in the war.
Belgrade has refrained from joining other European states in placing economic sanctions on Russia, although it has come under growing pressure to fall in line with its neighbours which over the past 30 years have all become NATO members or aspirants. As Russia reportedly faces manpower shortages, large numbers of Serb volunteers could potentially provide much valued support. Ukraine has received very significant manpower contributions from abroad, including large numbers of Western volunteers, Western military contractors, and active Western personnel. One of the latest examples of such support was the confirmation by British Deputy Chief of Defence Staff Lieutenant General Robert Magowan in December that hundreds of Royal Marines have been carrying out high risk operations in Ukraine since April.
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