A large crowd gathered in central Belgrade, Serbia, in support of Russia on Friday night, organised by several extreme right organisations.

The rally started with Russia’s and Serbia’s national anthems.

The crowd blocked traffic for 45 minutes, carried Russian and Serbian flags, and chanted slogans supporting Russia and Serbia-Russian brotherhood.

They booed President Aleksandar Vucic for Serbia’s vote to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the UN, calling him a traitor.

Damnjan Knezevic from the anti-immigrant and nationalist ‘People’s Patrol’ organisation sent a message to CNN, BBC, and the Serbian state broadcaster RTS “that Russophobia in Serbia is on the level of a statistical error” and that “every Russian is a brother to every Serb.”

“No matter how much we are pressured, no matter how much they attack us, it’s a drop in the ocean for the Slavic soul,” Knezevic said, adding that “there is no Serb who will impose sanctions on Russia and Belarus.”

The leader of the ultranationalist ‘Obraz’ organisation, Mladen Obradovic, said that “Russia is liberating the world from NATO’s threats” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin “proved to be the strongest and most courageous statesman in the world.”

They warned the authorities that if Belgrade imposed sanctions on Moscow after April 3 elections, many more people would rally.

After the speeches, the crowd walked to the Russian embassy.