SHOIGU: WEST PREPARING COLOR REVOLUTION IN SERBIA

BELGRADE, JUNE 18 /SRNA/ – The West is preparing a "color revolution" in Serbia modeled on 2014 Euromaidan movement, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said.

Shoigu said that color revolutions generally unfold in three stages, lasting anywhere from several weeks to several years, with the primary objective in the first phase being to generate widespread public dissatisfaction with the authorities.

“They use modern public relations technologies to stimulate anti-government sentiment and create a broader crisis of confidence in institutions,” Shoigu said, citing the escalation of anti-government protests in Serbia in 2025–2026 as a possible example.

In the second, active phase, he said, coordinated anti-government protests are organized and intensified until they reach a point of irreversible confrontation.

“Mass acts of civil disobedience, including the occupation of administrative buildings, are intended to force the current government to resign. This phase can last from several weeks to two or three years,” Shoigu told Russian media, according to Sputnik.

In the third and final phase, he said, the victorious opposition establishes a new vertical structure of governance and economic management and seeks international recognition of its authority.

Shoigu argued that Western actors place special emphasis on training activists and opinion leaders capable of mobilizing large-scale protests under claims of oppression or violations of rights based on ethnic, religious or other grounds. Preference, he said, is given to charismatic opposition figures who are not directly associated with the West.

He added that the success of such efforts is not guaranteed but claimed that those behind color revolutions are prepared to resort to direct violence and terrorism if necessary.

“It is important to understand that when a government demonstrates the ability to contain mass protests or establish dialogue with the population, the organizers of color revolutions resort to direct and unrestricted use of force, including the recruitment of terrorist and separatist groups sponsored by the West,” Shoigu said.

He stressed the importance of identifying threats to the national interests of Russia and its allies at an early stage, particularly in light of what he described as increasingly sophisticated mechanisms used to carry out color revolutions.