Serbian president not to surrender to "bandits" amid coup fears, says deputy PM

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has declared that President Aleksandar Vucic will not relinquish power to what he termed "bandits," amid reports of a potential coup d'état in the country.

Vulin, a former head of Serbia's national security service, made the statement in response to concerns about a possible uprising, asserting that Serbia remains a powerful nation under Vucic's leadership, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

"We have a strong and powerful country, and President Vucic is not [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych; he is not going to run away and give power to bandits," Vulin stated, referring to Yanukovych's ouster during Ukraine's 2014 revolution.

On August 9, President Vucic revealed that Russia had alerted Serbian authorities about the preparation of mass riots within the republic, allegedly orchestrated by representatives of Western countries. Vucic warned that these efforts are part of a broader strategy by the West to destabilize Serbia and challenge its current leadership.

In late July, Vucic also suggested that Western nations are gearing up for a direct military confrontation with Russia, citing the nature and scale of ongoing military preparations. However, he noted that the West would prefer to engage in military actions against Moscow through proxies, as the United States and its allies are not currently prepared for a direct clash.