Serbian police found explosives near the gas pipeline to Hungary, Vučić talks about the threat

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said the army and police found two backpacks with explosives near a gas pipeline leading to Hungary on Sunday. TASR informs about it according to the AFP agency.

• The Serbian army and police found two backpacks with explosives near the gas pipeline.
• The backpacks were lying near Kanjiža near the border with Hungary and the Balkan Stream gas pipeline.
• The Serbian president informed Viktor Orbán about the possible threat to the gas infrastructure.
• Investigators have some leads, but the details are secret and not released to the public.
• Serbia daily imports Russian gas cheaper than the market price in Europe.

Backpacks with explosives and detonators were found in Kanjiža in northern Serbia “several hundred meters from the gas pipeline”, Vučić said. Kanjiža in Vojvodina is located on the banks of the Tisza River about 10 kilometers from the border with Hungary. The Balkan Stream gas pipeline runs through its territory as an extension of the TurkStream gas pipeline, which transports Russian gas to Serbia and Hungary.

Critical infrastructure warning

Vučić said he informed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “about the first results of the investigation by our military and police authorities regarding the threat to critical gas infrastructure.”

No details were provided about possible motives for the find. Vučić said there were “certain clues” that he could not immediately talk about. “Our intelligence services have done a good job,” he declared.

Dependence on Russian gas

Vučić said the explosives could have “endangered many lives” and caused significant damage to the gas pipeline. In Hungary, the pre-election campaign is at its peak before the parliamentary elections on April 12.

Serbia is a candidate country for the EU and is still heavily dependent on Russian gas. It imports about six million cubic meters per day at about half the market price.