Serbia-based camp allegedly used to train Moldovans for unrest

Serbian and Moldovan authorities reported in late September 2025 that a riverside holiday resort in western Serbia, the Sunčana Reka complex near Loznica and the village of Gornja Koviljača on the Drina, had allegedly been used to train Moldovan citizens to incite unrest around Moldova's 28 September 2025 parliamentary elections. According to officials in Chișinău and Belgrade, more than 150 Moldovan and Romanian citizens were trained at the site, reportedly between 16 July and 12 September 2025, in groups of roughly 50 people. Investigators allege the recruits were taught how to break through police cordons, resist security forces and handle items including rubber batons, handcuffs and firearms, with some training described as target recognition and shooting practice.

Investigators said participants, reportedly aged 19 to 45, in some cases entered Serbia under the guise of Orthodox pilgrimages and were paid around 400 euros per trip. Moldovan police chief Viorel Cernăuțeanu said most participants were instructed by Russian citizens. On 26 September 2025 Serbia's Interior Ministry confirmed the arrest of two Serbian citizens in Šabac on suspicion of financing and organising the camp. Days earlier, on 22 September, Moldovan authorities detained dozens of people in connection with the alleged destabilisation plot. President Aleksandar Vučić later said Russian nationals had been present at the camp, while saying he could not confirm involvement of a Russian intelligence service. Moscow has denied any involvement.

The allegations are assessed by Serbian and Moldovan authorities as part of a suspected Russia-linked effort to destabilise Moldova around its 2025 vote, consistent with broader reporting on Balkan-based training camps for Moldovan recruits. Attribution to Russian state services remains formally unproven: Vučić confirmed Russian nationals' presence but stopped short of naming an intelligence service, and Moscow denies involvement. The case is corroborated across multiple outlets and official statements, though some operational details derive from investigators' accounts and remain to be tested in court.