A new generation of ethnic Serb nationalists is preparing for a war in Bosnia, The Telegraph can reveal.
Hundreds of militants have travelled to Ukraine to fight alongside Russian troops in the belief that “Mother Russia” will repay them by helping them retake lost Serbian territories such as Kosovo.
The nationalists, including veterans from the Bosnian War, are using social media to encourage young Serbs to join them in Russia. Some are offering £23,000 for them to sign up and fight in Ukraine.
There are fears that once they return home to Bosnia they will fuel a paramilitary conflict, 30 years after the Bosnian War ended.
Dario Ristic was one such case in point. The Serbian nationalist, hobbling awkwardly on a prosthetic leg and carrying proof of his newly acquired citizenship, returned to Bosnia. He had been injured while fighting in Ukraine with a Russian unit known as the Bears from Perm.
While in Ukraine, Mr Ristic was known by the ironic nom de guerre “speedy” and for carrying out sniper and drone attacks in cities like Avdiivka.
He honed his social media skills on sites such as TikTok and the Russian network Vkontakte, whipping up support from politically disaffected young Serbs back home by glamorising fighting on the front line and spreading nationalist messages.
His Russian unit even sent a birthday card to Ratko Mladic, the war criminal who is receiving palliative care in the Hague, where he was sentenced to life in prison for atrocities committed against Bosnian Muslims.
In one video posted on Telegram, Mr Ristic posed beside a fellow Serb who informed his audience back home: “Once we’re done with these Nato fascists here, we’re coming back to regain our shrines and what is ours. Glory to God, glory to Mother Russia – to victory!”
Upon returning home, Mr Ristic was arrested at Sarajevo airport for joining a foreign paramilitary unit but has since been released from prison and placed under house arrest pending completion of his trial.
When The Telegraph contacted Mr Ristic at his home in Modrica, he said from his doorstep: “I would like to talk to you. But I am banned by the law from talking to you, but perhaps in the future.”
Even now, far from the front, he is still considered a major recruitment risk with more than 10,000 followers online.
And he is joined online by other Serb nationalists who are trying to spread their message.
It is predominantly a hardcore group of veterans who fought in the Bosnian War who continue to instil divisive ideology in young men.