Turning to his radical roots and Seselj's methods of communication, Aleksandar Vučić hires "red berets" to parade at progressive rallies. What does this mean to the citizens of Serbia and what was the purpose of the Special Operations Unit (JSO)
Commenting on the news that the Government of Serbia finances veterans with money from the budget "red berets", editor-in-chief of the weekly "Vreme" Filip Švarm assessed that the president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić it can no longer expand its voter base and therefore consolidate its hard core in an obscure way.
Švarm described Vučić for N1 as "the best student Vojislav Seselj" and pointed out that "when you look at his campaign, it looks like Seselj is leading it":
"You have everything there - insults, intimidation, empty straw thrashing, promises and aggressive hate speech. It's like we're in 1998."
Vučić resorts to the use of that "symbol of chaos and war" because, on the one hand, he wants to intimidate his opponents, and "to encourage and motivate" his supporters.
"If Vučić had something better than the 'red berets', he would show it," Švarm pointed out.
He reminded that Legion's veterans are a day or two before the anniversary of the assassination of the Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic patrolled in Chacilenda so "everyone can see them".
"After that, things took off, they are practically at all SNS gatherings. It's a kind of synergy between the progressives and the 'red berets,'" said Švarm, stressing that that unit "is the very heart of the darkness of the 1990s and the wars in Yugoslavia."
Švarm started using the phrase "heart of darkness" in the context of the way of working and the legacy of the "red berets" at the beginning of the trial of the murderers of Zoran Đinđić.
In a text titled just like that – "Heart of Darkness", he recalls the role played by the Special Operations Unit, which was the official name for the "red berets", in the recent history of Serbia and the region.
"The special operations unit was disbanded on March 25, 2003, after the arrest of its commander Dušan Maričić Gumar, Zvezdan Jovanović and several other members. Although the groups from the "red berets" were accused of the kidnapping and murder of the former president of the Serbian Presidency, Ivan Stambolic, of the assassination on the Ibarska highway when four officials of the Serbian Reconstruction Movement were killed, and they were also linked to other political and commissioned liquidations, a large number of state and police leaders assured the public that only a small number of Milorad Luković's Ulemek Legion's confidants were involved in all these wrongdoings, up to their necks in organized crime, and that the majority of the members of the Unit were honest, sound in terms of security, in the worst case, manipulated, and thus the largest number of them were taken over in the Gendarmerie and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit," Švarm wrote.
As before, after Legion's burning of the disco in the Kula, or the fire in the restaurant "Stupica" or after the armed rebellion of the JSO on November 8, 2001, they were treated gently, with silk gloves, as if they did not come from the very heart of the darkness of Milosevic's wars and everything that his regime led to. Whether it was because of the otherwise dubious merits for the Fifth of October, when the Legion was thanked for crossing over to the right side at the last moment and thus saving itself and its people, whether it was because of fear of their long arm or because of the extremely poor state of the police and justice system, the "red berets" were treated like a national asset of inestimable interest.
Švarm emphasizes in that text that it is quite possible that the majority of members of the "red berets" had no direct connection with war crimes or professional liquidations:
"Like the majority of special forces in various similar units of various countries, the members of the JSO are brought to a sort of robotic state by drill and training, when all orders are carried out without question and promptly, without any relation to the concepts of good and evil, so now who was ordered - was ordered, who was not - was not. However, there is something that can be called the spirit of the Unit and which - no matter what is said and how it is explained and justified - they all shared. And that belief that in the protection of Serbia, as defined by the Milosevic regime, they are allowed everything, that they are untouchable in their 'mission' and that, as such, they stand above all laws".
Because from their establishment until their disbandment, the "red berets" were mostly used in operations and actions "that never happened, and even if they did, no one is authorized to talk about them": this was the case in Krajina and Bosnia when "Serbia was not at war", as well as in Kosovo when FR Yugoslavia declared a state of war.
One of the founders of "Vremen", journalist Miloš Vasić, at one time on the occasion of the rebellion of the "red berets" described in detail the way in which that unit was created and got its name:
"Sometime in the spring of 1991, Slobodan Milošević and his associates realized that they could not rely on the reservists of the JNA, nor on its entire active composition, nor on the chaotically organized Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia. Admittedly, there were already active operatives of the State Security Service there, but on the tasks of organizing and to a lesser extent training of paramilitary formations under the political leadership of the Serbian Democratic Party," wrote Vasić.
Since there was considerable political chaos of a pluralistic type among the Serbs outside of Serbia (partisans, Chetniks, SKPJ, moderates, neutrals, etc.), there was a need to discipline and force that pluralism into order. Legend has it that Mihalj Braca Kertes was the first to think of creating a unit of serious people who would deal with it and, if necessary, plug holes, intervene in critical places and serve as the personnel basis for future Serbian armies of all kinds.
In the conspiratorial spirit of the time, the name of the unit was not mentioned (perhaps it existed in secret documents), although the heraldic motif of the wolf's muzzle appears relatively early, which has been stylized in the familiar form today.
For some reason, the unit acquired a red beret as a sign of distinction, not very original, admittedly: the red beret was first worn by British paratroopers, and later it was adopted mainly by airborne units of various armies. In any case, the unit was established by the State Security Service of the Ministry of Interior of Serbia; at the beginning, it had the first 57 members, part of internal affairs workers, part of collaborative connections and reliable people from "patriotic" structures, part of various adventurers from various backgrounds, Vasić wrote.
The first known commander (until 1998) was Franko Simatović Frenki, a professional SDB worker with experience, originally from Boka Kotorska. He answered directly to Jovica Stanišić, along the line of the DB, and coordinated on the field at the highest level with the late Radovan Stojičić Baõ and other operatives. Logistics, money, weapons and basic command staff came from the SDB, as well as very broad powers. The unit is conceived as a deeply conspiratorial group, unattributable and deniable, as they say in special operations jargon. So: with false documents, without distinctive markings, with various types of uniforms and markings, even for one-time use, with weapons and equipment common to the given terrain.
About how people were recruited into the "red berets" he once wrote and "Vremena" journalist Dejan Anastasijević:
"The recruitment composition of the "red berets" was the same as that of other paramilitary units (from stakes and ropes), only the criteria were stricter, relying on knowledge of martial arts and the willingness to carry out every order without question. People for the "red berets" were recruited from other paramilitary units (mostly from Arkan's "Tigers"), but also directly from prisons. Prominent members are mostly known by their nicknames (Legija, Major Fića, Cema, Žika Crnogorac, Pera Divljak...). Those who know their real names don't like to mention them, and even talk about their nicknames in a whisper."
The main training center was in Kula near Vrbas, (which was shelled several times by NATO), but similar camps also existed in Tara, and during the war (1991-1995) in Pajzos (Slavonia) and Tikves (Baranja). Their composition never exceeded 300 people, but they always had the most modern equipment and weapons, including anti-aircraft systems.
The "Frankies" appeared all over the Serbian lands, wherever there was a particularly dirty job to be done, and there were many such jobs in Croatia and Bosnia. Not infrequently, they were engaged in the resolution of various Serbian-Serbian disputes over the Drina, which they ended discreetly, brutally and efficiently.
"The top officers of the former JNA and the armed forces of the Serbs on the Drina trembled in fear before them. When in May 92, General Momčilo Perišić, then the commander of the Mostar Corps, dared to ask the 'Frankijevs' who sent them to his zone of responsibility, he received the following answer: 'You know very well, you old fart, who sent us, and now I'm losing sight of you so I wouldn't send you to the PM,'" wrote Dejan Anastasijević.
According to an eyewitness of this event, Perišić acted according to orders. It is also known that it was Franky who led the way in the former Krajina, from the organization of the "block revolution" in 1990 to the control of the VBR "Orkan" and surface-to-surface missiles of the "Luna" type in 1995.
At the end of the war, the "Red Berets" received their current official name (JSO) and a base in Banjica. During the conflict in Kosovo, they were under the direct command of General Sreten Lukić, and Lukić received orders from Nikola Šainović, Milošević's commissioner for Kosovo.
Detailed reports on their activities in the province can be found in the reports of Human Rights Watch and other international organizations that have investigated war crimes.
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